Sifting Through Chaos
by The Mass Effect Gamer
Summary: The Reapers have attacked Earth, and the Alliance is completely caught off guard. Alliance Captain James Clark of the 13th regiment of New York is separated from his squad, and has one goal in mind: protect Earth until Shepard brings help. All OC cast.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, its universe, or any of the characters mentioned in it. The only thing I do own are James Clark, Ronald Black, Emilia Guarez, Aaron Rhyder, Logan Butler, and Erik White.**

Chapter 1: Out of the Blue

"Shit! Captain, get down!"

Another volley of fire rained overhead as I slid behind a crate. I took out my Thunder assault rifle and blind fired it behind me. A couple of moans and I knew I had hit something. I switched to my M-100 grenade launcher and motioned to Kevin, one finger pointing down and then fanning my hand sideways. Cover, then suppressive fire. I shot out of cover and immediately took a hail of gunfire; my shields were taking a beating today. I fired two grenades in quick succession and grinned as husks were tossed all over the field. The big husk was also down: bonus. Kevin and the other Alliance soldiers rose from behind the crates and fired in wide arcs, covering the enemy line with fire. My shields gave out and I ducked behind cover again. I accessed my omni-tool and activated the shield tool, producing an orange hexagon-shaped kinetic shield from my omni-tool. Sliding out of cover, I kept my shield and pistol in front of me, unloading everything in the clip. Wave after wave of husks were shot down, seemingly endless. Finally, the remaining husks ran away, disappearing among the concrete rubble. I breathed in relief and ran to meet the rest of my squad. "You all did good out there, men," I said, taking deep breaths.

"Thanks, Captain," said Private Kevin. "These husks are getting bolder every day. Even animals know not to stick their noses where it hurts."

"These things are definitely not animals," said another soldier, shouldering his gun.

"Either way, we don't have much time," I cut in. "We need to report back to base quickly. They can use all the help they can get."

#############

I ducked underneath a stone pillar, leaving behind another forest of debris behind me. I looked overhead and saw another one of those giant starships fly over. Black, ominous, and emitting a piercing sound that bore into your head. Sightings of those ships were an everyday occurrence nowadays, but usually, it meant more of those husks were nearby. "Captain?" asked Private Kevin.

"Yes?"

"Any word from Overlord? We're not getting any connection on our end."

I checked my omni-tool. No response. "None."

The private looked up, and then shook his head. "How the hell did they manage to—"

I signaled with my hand. Slowing down, I crept up to a fallen tree, my squad of five following in suit. "See something, Captain?" asked a soldier.

"Quiet, Private," I hushed, and brought up my Titan sniper rifle. I looked through the scope. Two average husks were wandering aimlessly around the forest. I fired one shot, blowing a head off with it. The remaining husk stopped and turned ominously towards the direction of fire. The eyes were piercing blue, and always seemed to stare right through you. I fired another shot, but this one bounced off of an invisible barrier. "Biot—" I began to yell.

A wave of blue energy resonated through the forest, knocking me and my team to our feet. I threw a grenade in the husk's general direction and scrambled to my feet. Something flew past me and exploded behind me. A scream from behind me and I turned around. A piece of bark had embedded itself in one of the soldiers, who was also covered in horrible burns. I grimaced, and looked ahead. Several dark-blue colored husks were charging towards us, a blue corona surrounding them. I fired a couple of shots from my assault rifle, but they were easily deflected by the barriers. I switched to my Executioner shotgun, and activated Warp ammo. "Team, biotics!" I yelled again, as if that wasn't obvious enough.

I unloaded an entire clip into the approaching group, which by now was seven feet away. One husk hit the ground, blue glow slowly fading away. Sniper fire from behind me took down two more, and by this time, the husks were spreading out, aiming to flank our position. I moved to the right. "Private Kevin, cover the left!"

A yell from behind me and I turned around again. Several big husks had come up from behind, catching one of the soldiers by surprise. The husk swung its arm into him, and he was down. I fired a Concussive shot into the group, blowing back most of them.

Suddenly, I couldn't move. I noticed a blue energy around my arms, and realized what had happened. _Shit, biotics!_ I thought as I was roughly thrown to the side. I hit the ground rolling on my side and kept rolling, bouncing off a rock. I looked around and saw I was falling down in mid-air; I had been thrown off the side of a cliff! I whirled around and I flailed around with my arms upwards, managing to grab hold of a rock sticking out of the cliff. My vision blurred as I looked down. Then I looked up to see a husk, which was standing right above me! I reached for my Carnifex and aimed for his head. Its four eyes glowed brightly as it reared back to attack; acid spewed from its mouth as I fired three rounds into its head. The acid rained down on me and I lost my grip. I tried to steer myself towards the cliff face; maybe I could slow myself down. My shoulder pad grated against the rocks and I took my combat knife out, driving the blade into the cliff and showering me with sparks. Abruptly I hit a tree branch, snapping the entire limb. Branches and leaves ripped at my face until finally I bounced off the side of the tree trunk and landed at the base of a tree. My head hit something hard and I was out like a light.

#############

I opened my eyes, and winced at the bright light. I slowly sat up, grimacing at the sudden jolt in the ribs. But I couldn't stay here for long; the husks would be here sooner or later. "Damn," I grunted, getting to my feet. I kept one hand on my hand cannon for husks. Either way, I had to report back to base.

I stumbled ahead, vaguely heading towards the city; at least there I could get some bearing. Then I heard a rustle to the right, swinging my Carnifex towards the sound. As if on cue, a husk leapt out of the bushes, bursting with flames. I fired two shots in its head, which caused it to explode, disabling my shields. Three more husks charged at me right behind the abomination, with a Scion behind them. I fired everything in the clip, taking two husks down. I holstered the hand cannon and swung my shotgun upwards, taking the last husk's head off. The Scion fired a biotic shockwave at me, ripping through everything in its path. I dove to the side firing two rounds into the Scion, which seemed to do nothing to it. Another husk ran from behind the Scion, who fired another shockwave. I rolled to the left and dropped the shotgun. _Shit! I don't have another gun to—"_

A loud _crack_ sounded all over the forest, and the husk's head exploded, raining metal pieces over me. Two more _cracks_, and the blue hump on the Scion's back popped open, releasing gallons of blue liquid. The Scion fell face forward. I picked up my shotgun, loading two more rounds into the clip. "Who's there?" I yelled, cocking my shotgun to prove my point.

A laugh from above me. "I just saved your ass, and now you're trying to intimidate me?"

I looked up, and barely saw a dark shape fall from the tree, leaping off each branch in succession. The figure touched down. "Name's Emilia Guarez, ex-soldier of the Costa Rica military."

I looked her up and down. She was Hispanic, that much I could tell, and she wore her black hair in a ponytail, with one earring in the shape of a cross on her right ear. She wore a black tank top, with a black flak jacket over it. She also had on tight black jeans, with a holstered pistol. Her sniper rifle was balanced on her shoulders, which she kept still with one hand. "Captain James Clark of the 13th regiment of the Alliance in New York," I stated, which I knew by heart. "Or at least I was, until my squad and I were ambushed by a group of husks."

"Thirteen. That's an unlucky number," she said, strapping her rifle to her back. "Where were you headed anyway? There's nothing in New York anymore, except a bunch of husks and dead people."

"And the last major Alliance force in the northeast of America. I need to regroup back at base."

"Need any help? I heard that New York is completely trashed."

"You can come if you want to." I frowned. "Wait, I was in New York only hours ago. I'm pretty sure it's still standing."

Emilia slid the rifle onto her back. "Not what I heard."

"That doesn't matter. I just need to get back."

"Whatever. Just calm down."

#############

The trek back was short and uneventful to say the least. We didn't encounter any husks on the way, but we did notice a couple walking towards the city ahead of us. Emilia took out her pistol. "I got them," she said, cloaking herself.

I watched the husks, eyeing them with the scope of my sniper rifle. The first husk's head exploded, two more holes appeared in its chest. The second husk's legs were cut out from beneath him, dropping him to the ground. The last husk was cut in half, and shot in the back. Emilia appeared behind the corpses and waved to me through my scope.

"These guys split off the main group," said Emilia. "Look."

I looked through the scope of her sniper rifle. Viper sniper rifle, one of the new issues, I noticed. Three big husks were lumbering in a parking lot, moaning occasionally. I fired two shots; the husk hit the ground. The other two turned around as I lobbed a mine at them. I drew my assault rifle and fired at the mine, detonating it in front of the two husks. The resulting explosion ripped them apart; they never had a chance. "Nice shooting," laughed Emilia, taking back her sniper rifle. "Are all the soldiers in the alliance like you?"

"Only the crazy ones," I replied, loading another thermal clip into my gun. "Come on, the Alliance base isn't too far from here. I think."

"I hope," said Emilia.

Dust streamed from the rubble above them as they walked on to the Alliance base camp. Everything scurried: rats, husks, and soldiers. I hadn't seen any civilians in a long time, ever since the attack on Earth. I looked up to the sky, imagining the huge space battles that must have been taking place while the people below struggled to survive. I hadn't heard any news about what was happening to the rest of galaxy for a while now. I looked at Emilia, who was absentmindedly cleaning her gun. "Emilia?" I said, glancing back down.

"Yeah?" she responded, who stopped cleaning her gun.

"If you were in the Costa Rican military, how did you end up in New York?"

She laughed, the sound echoing all over the city. "Actually, I think I probably arrived somewhere in Pennsylvania before coming here. Me and my unit were dispatched in a helicopter to eastern Costa Rica to help train the recruits when Earth was attacked. We only saw a couple of those black starships in the sky around us, and we kept hearing all these transmissions about the world being attacked, and how it was all over." She shook her head, looking down.

"I don't think the pilot knew where he was going. We just kept flying. We didn't exactly pass through the cities; we just kind of skirted around them. Eventually we reached the ocean. I fell asleep onboard, and the next thing I know, I wake up and the helicopter's spinning around, my team flying out the door, and the pilot's screaming at us to hang on. We crashed in some forest; I was the only one that survived. So I just took my guns and whatever provisions were left and made my way north, or I thought it was north at least. Picked up news that I was in America and heard about the Alliance gathering in the north. I'm guessing then it was only a couple of days before I ran into you."

I stopped. "I think we should be getting close to base camp now."

Two massive gun turrets swiveled in unison in front of the pair, oblivious to them. Below, ten Alliance soldiers stood at ready in front of slanted metal doors entering the underground base. Three more soldiers ran up behind us, guns trained on our backs. One of the men guarding the door walked up, two feet from us. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brown hair. "Name and rank. Now."

"Emilia Guarez. Ex-soldier of the Costa Rica military. My team and I were being transported via helicopter when we were attacked. We crashed somewhere near New York, but I was the only survivor." He motioned to me.

"Captain James Clark of the 13th regiment of the Alliance in New York. My squad and I were ambushed by a group of husks. I don't know what happened to my squad."

The man lowered his weapon. "Commander Ronald Black. We were expecting you, Captain. So far, you're the only recon team that's made it back to base. Come on, we need to get to the briefing." The commander looked at Emilia. "You come too."

Emilia looked at me. I nodded. The doors slowly slid open, grating from disuse. The three soldiers from behind ushered us in, right behind the commander. The doors started to close again.

Inside, the dark hallway was dimly lit by computer interfaces and wall lighting. There were soldiers constantly running past us, delivering things or rushing to their positions. "Nice setup," commented Emilia, noting the racks and racks of weapons passing by.

"It's good, but it's not nearly enough," said Black darkly.

We arrived in a big, spacious room, with everything centered on the command console in the middle. Several officers were in intense discussions around the console, oblivious to the newcomers. "Something important happened?" I asked, glancing around the room.

"We were just told that Earth wasn't the only place attacked. The Reapers hit just about everywhere else in the galaxy—"

"Wait, the reapers?"

The commander stopped. "Right, the briefing. Captain, we now have a clear idea of what our enemy is. Do you have any clue what a Reaper is?"

"Not exactly. I'm guessing it's one of those big black ships that are always flying around?"

"Yes. Three years ago, the Citadel was attacked by Saren's army of geth. That's the official story. Actually, a Reaper called Sovereign led a fleet of geth ships to the Citadel to open the Citadel relay."

"The Citadel is a relay?"

"Yes, a big relay that they created that was meant to open a pathway from dark space for the rest of the Reapers to enter and attack the galaxy."

_What the shit? _How could we possibly stop an enemy that more or less built the technology we used today? They would know exactly what they were up against. "So the Citadel is gone?"

"No. Commander Shepard stopped Sovereign from opening the Citadel relay. The Reapers came here from dark space."

I stared at him. "But didn't he die?"

"Apparently not. He's back and he's trying to unite the galaxy against the Reapers. If we're lucky, we can hold out here long enough for him to arrive with reinforcements."

"So that's the plan?"

"It's the best one we got. Captain, I'm appointing you to be in charge of another recon team. A helicopter will be here soon to transport you and your team."

"What about me?" asked Emilia, who had been silent the whole time.

The commander looked hard at her, and seemed to be weighing up decisions. Then he looked back at me. "Captain, are you sure of her abilities in combat?"

"Yes, sir. She's a damn good soldier."

Black seemed to think it over. "Very well, she's assigned to your squad. The private here will escort you two to the armory for refitting. Be back here in ten minutes."

#############

Ten minutes later, and we were armed to teeth. I had picked out a nice machine pistol, the M-4 Shuriken, and more updated versions of my other weapons. My armor was above standard-issue and its shields could take more punishment. Emilia, on the other hand, had opted out of new armor, and instead had taken a couple of grenades. "If I get hit in battle, that's my fault," she had explained, donning light combat armor. "Besides, I'm supposed to move quickly and avoid being noticed. You're supposed to stand out there and attract attention."

I stepped out onto the landing pad. There were other gunships there too, although more equipped for combat than transportation. The helicopter I was assigned to was waiting in the middle of the hangar, slowly moving to the landing pad. The squad was waiting by the vehicle. "Captain," said one of the soldiers, saluting.

"At ease, private," I said, chuckling. "You don't have to salute to me. Are you all ready?"

They nodded. "Private Emilia will also be joining us on this mission," I said, motioning to Emilia. "We'll scout out the north side of the city for survivors and report back to base. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir."

I waved at the pilot, who started the helicopter. "Let's move."

The helicopter slowly floated off the landing pad. "Overlord, this is Recon Team 142, we are moving to position," said the pilot into the radio. "Permission for flight?"

"Permission granted," the radio echoed back. "Stay alert, transmission is…watch for…back to base now!"

"Overlord, transmission is breaking up…" I was barely paying attention, though. I looked out the side of the helicopter, and reared back as the husk slammed against the side of the door. "Private, door gun!" I shouted, as the husk hit the window again, cracking it.

The door gun roared to life, ripping the husk to pieces. "This is Overlord, we are declaring a state of emergency! Attacks from all sides of base. All available hands move to north side for reinforcement! Any air support is needed at—". The line cut off.

"Hostiles in the air!" shouted the pilot over the gunfire. "Holy shit!"

I looked up through the pilot's cabin. Hordes of Reapers were quickly surrounding the base, firing red beams of death. Turret fire bounced off their shields like they were pellet guns. "Get us out of here!" I yelled at the pilot.

"Already on it!" he shouted back, suddenly throwing the helicopter forward. "Shit!"

The helicopter weaved to the side, barely avoiding a husk that had launched itself where the helicopter had been only moments before. Another husk, and then hundreds of them were flying past us, barely missing each time. "Private, where's that door gun?" I shouted.

"I'm trying, sir!" he yelled, firing the minigun.

Suddenly, a huge black shape blotted out the windshield. "Shit, shit, shit!" I heard the pilot yell as I hit the back of the helicopter. Emilia fired through the cracked window. "Reaper!" she shouted, firing again.

The pilot jerked left hard, throwing us to the side again. A red flash passed the side of the helicopter, actually burning my shields. The left door burned off, taking the private with it. Then the helicopter was spinning, faster and faster. "Hang on!" I heard the pilot yell, and then a scream. I grabbed a chair, feeling the loss of gravity as everything flew out the side of the helicopter. Emilia had stuck her sniper rifle into a nook behind a chair, and was trying to hang on too. Another soldier flew out the door.

The gunship slammed into something hard, and then nothing.

My first attempt at a Mass Effect 3 fanfic. I'll try to post somewhat regularly, considering I'm guessing as to what happens in Mass Effect 3. Please read and then review!


	2. Chapter 2: Suns, Skycars, and Skydiving

**Sorry it took so long, guys! I've been on vacation for a while, and all I could was brainstorm. But, after a month of waiting, here it is!**

Chapter 2: Suns, Skycars, and Skydiving

Dust fell on my face. I opened my eyes, colors blurry and disorienting.I rubbed my eyes, and slowly sat up, grunting from the pain in my back. Then it all came back to me, the husks, the Reapers, the helicopters, the crash, Emilia…shit, where is she? I looked around, ignoring the protest from my neck as I turn side to side, searching. Then I saw the helicopter, which was crashed six feet from me. I got up, staggering, but I made my way to the crash site. "Emilia? Emilia, where are you?"

"Shit…"

I looked over the other side of the helicopter, and Emilia was leaning against the side of it, her right arm clamped over her left. "Glad to see you're still alive," she groaned. "Care to help?"

I vaulted over the helicopter, climbing slowly down the wreckage. "Injured?"

"Nothing too bad," she grunted, clutching her bleeding arm. "I've seen worse."

"I've got some medi-gel. Hold on."

I applied the medi-gel to the wound, and she gritted her teeth as the gel worked on her injury. "Are we the only survivors?" I nodded. "Shit…I can't believe this is happening again."

I suddenly remembered that she had crashed with her squad in a helicopter as well. "I'm guessing you won't be riding on helicopters any time soon?"

She chuckled. "Got that right. But shouldn't we be trying to find shelter or something rather than just sit here and chat?"

Good point. "Right, let's go." I looked around, completely blank about my surroundings. "Somewhere."

"Someone has to be the leader here. Do you want to be, or should I?"

"…I think I'll do it."

#############

The forest still looked the same. After what I thought was several hours had passed, we finally stopped walking, resting by a particularly big oak tree. "I think we're making progress," Emilia said sarcastically, sitting against the tree. I didn't respond.

"Hey, we're burning daylight here! We've got to move!"

I froze at the sound of the voices. Emilia sat up, reaching for the sniper rifle across her back. "Wait," I said, checking the heat sink on my assault rifle.

Emilia looked through the scope of her sniper rifle. "Blue Suns," she said. "Looks like scouts. About five of them."

"Blue Suns? What are they doing here?"

The merc squad slowly approached our position. "I think I heard something," said one of them, drawing his weapon. Emilia and I stood still, the silence thickening the air. "Forget it, there's nothing out here except dead people and husks."

"That's what I'm worried about."

The merc squad was five feet away, oblivious to the Alliance soldier slowly creeping up behind them. The Blue Suns suddenly turned around, guns aimed at me. "Might want to drop your weapons."

I turned around slowly. Emilia was standing there, her weapons on the ground and a pistol pressed against her neck. "Idiots," the Blue Suns merc spoke into his omni-tool, wrapping his arm around Emilia's waist. "can't you even spot one damn Alliance soldier and his girlfriend in this forest? That's what a recon team's for."

"Don't even bother trying to come up with an excuse; just secure the damn prisoners and take them back to base."

"Yes sir," said the merc numbly, and promptly hit me in the head with his gun. My vision went blurry, and then I couldn't hear anything at all. The last few pinpricks disappeared from my vision. _Where are they taking us…_

#############

"What's an Alliance soldier like you doing here? Thought they were finished already."

The merc interrogator punched me again, this time drawing a bit of blood. "We crashed in a helicopter after another attack," I said, spitting on the ground. "Then we just wandered through the forest until we met your squad. That's what happened."

"And what if I don't believe you?" he said, getting in my face.

"Then I'm going to regret this later," I said, throwing my head at his. He hit the ground, grunting and groaning in pain. My vision was awash in colors, and I could barely think. But it was worth it. He slowly got up, staggering towards me. The batarian reared back and punched me in the gut. I gritted my teeth and breathed deeply. "I'll be back for you later," he said, shutting the door.

I kicked the box next to me. How could I have been so stupid as to let my guard down to some mercenaries? "Damn it." I moved the handcuffs behind my back a bit; they weren't coming off anytime soon.

Emilia checked her own handcuffs. "Nothing," she said, struggling against her restraints.

Damn. Not even a location to work with. Waking up in a dimly lit room handcuffed to a metal pipe with a batarian hitting you didn't give that many hints. A drop of water dripped from the ceiling, about five feet away, and landed on my nose. It was then I realized that my helmet, and my weapons, was gone. I felt around my leg with my other leg for my knife. _Damn, they took that too. _"My knife's gone too," I said, stopping.

"Yeah, they made sure to take everything. How the hell are we going to get out of here?"

I grabbed my right wrist. "They didn't take everything."

I activated my omni-tool and keyed in the commands. Twin shafts of orange-colored kinetic energy shot out from the base of the omni-tool, the glow of the blade lighting up the room. "That's a new toy," Emilia commented, eyes wide.

"Guns weren't the only thing I picked up while I was at the armory," I said, cutting the pipe behind me with ease. I slid my handcuffs off the jagged edge and cut the chain. In a few seconds, Emilia was free too. "Did you see where they took our weapons?"

"No," she said, shaking their head. "Any chance they have an armory?"

"No chance in hell. So how am I going to unlock—"

The door slid open and the merc interrogator's expression went from a snarl to shock. I recovered first, lunging towards him and stabbing straight through his shields and armor and out his back. My left hand clutched his neck and I tackled him to the floor, blood leaking from his back. He struggled a bit and then stopped. I got up and wiped the blood off my chest armor. I looked back to Emilia. "A flair for drama, right?"

I looked at the blade, and deactivated it. "Just a quick learner."

I looked around. The room was huge, easily ten times larger than the one we were just in. Cranes dotted the ceiling, rust falling from the metal arms. Old conveyor belts crisscrossed the room, and dust-covered crates filled in the gaps. The windows near the ceiling were all shattered, only left with shards of glass sticking out from the edges. "Looks like an old factory," she said quietly, noting the loud echo.

"This one's been out of commission for a long time." It was then I saw the Blue Suns on the other side of the room.

"Get down!" I said, hitting the floor, Emilia sliding next to me a fraction of a second later. I could still hear the mercs through the mass of conveyor belts.

"Where the hell is Jella? You'd think he'd be done by now," said a human voice.

"Knowing him, he probably killed the prisoners. Hasn't been the first time," came the flanging reply.

"If I went to go check on him, I'd probably slip on the prisoners' blood getting to the room," said a different human voice.

They all laughed, the sound echoing all over the room.

"Hey, check this out!"

I heard another merc come into the room. "Check out that guy's pistol. Better than anything we got."

"Don't touch their weapons! They'll have to be dead first."

"With Jella in there, they will be. Come on, first come first serve."

The three mercs left, leaving the other one behind. I slowly edged towards the guard, making my way around the conveyor belts and fallen crates. "Come on, guys! Wait up!"

I heard something hit the ground. "Damn it. Stupid clip." I glanced around the side of the crate and saw the mercenary. My hand twitched around my omni-tool. The merc bent over and picked up the clip.

I sprang forward, tackling him. We crashed into a stack of crates, throwing up a fine cloud of dust. I heard an audible crack. _Crashing into a stack of dusty crates is by all means not a good idea, even if there's a merc to break your fall. _I coughed through the dust, slowly standing up. "A bit unnecessary, wasn't it?" said Emilia dryly, arms crossed. "I mean, couldn't you have just broken his neck?"

I picked up the pistol from the fallen merc. "That would take the fun out of it," I said, sliding the pistol into my holster. I checked his person for more and found two sticky grenades and Terminator assault rifle. "Want one?" I said, tossing her the rifle.

She snatched it mid-toss, examining its scope and design. "Not my type," she grimaced, adjusting a few settings on the gun. "But it'll do."

I pointed to my pistol. "We'll have to do with what we have. But let's see if we can find our weapons."

"Good, because I really don't want to have a death by shitty merc equipment." I looked around the assembly room. Two doors on each side of the room, and no exit. "I'll take one side," said Emilia.

"Good luck."

"I won't need it." The door slid open and she was gone. I sighed and opened my door. A narrow hallway stretched out in front of me, with several doors on each side. "Damn," I cursed, heading to the first door. _It's never just one door and, bamn, you found your destination. No. Why does everything have to be so complicated and difficult? _

I opened the first door and the two mercenaries stared at me in shock, one merc still holding his cup of coffee in frozen motion. _And damn inconvenient, too. _I fired first, smashing the cup of coffee and hitting the merc twice in the chest. His partner was smarter, ducking under my line of fire and ramming me against the wall. He fumbled for his pistol and jammed my omni-tool into his chest, forcing the blade through his armor. I twisted around and threw him into the table, leaving a jumbled and bloody mess of body and metal. I breathed deeply and examined their bodies. _An out-of-date Scorpion pistol, two old fragmentation grenades, I could use those, and, oh, a thermal clip. These guys weren't the top-of-the-line mercenaries. _I took the grenades and thermal clip and closed the door, locking it tight. Several more doors lay ahead of me. "This is going to be a while," I said to myself.

############

_One more merc down. About a hundred more to go. _I fired the assault rifle again, putting two more down. _I get the barracks, full of merc recruits and amateurs with guns. Out of all the doors I could have picked, the second door happened to open into the merc barracks. I wonder what Emilia got? _I popped out from behind cover, emptying the rest of my clip into another merc. I popped the clip out of the rifle and tested its weight. _Hot, hot! Throw it fast, James. This is going to sting. _I flung the thermal clip at a merc who had just stood up from cover. It hit him in the eye, and he yelled in pain and shock. I shot him.

Silence. I checked around the corners of the bunk. Nothing except dead mercs. I peeked over the top of the bunk and saw nobody. I crouched low and slowly advanced down the narrow pathway between the lines of bunks. Suddenly, I heard a shuffling noise three bunks ahead. I ducked behind one of the bunks and stepped on one of the bodies. His armor creaked a bit and something rolled from underneath the merc. A grenade. I held it for a second, looked up, and activated the explosive. I lobbed the grenade overhead. It exploded, and I heard someone scream as the fireball threw bunks and mercs around the room. I felt the heat from behind my bunk, warm to the touch. The glow died out, and I slowly stood back up. Stepping over the wreckage, I picked up a sniper rifle from a fallen merc, and noted its build. _M-96 Mattock. Old rifle, mainly used by colonist militia. This one was adapted for thermal clips. Semi-automatic, but high damage rate and accuracy rating. Not the best, but it'll do._

I found another pistol, and discarded the assault rifle. _Assault rifle and pistol. Just like the old days. _I moved to open the door. _Locked. Huh. Mercs must have closed it during the firefight. This'll take a few seconds… _

The door unlocked and opened. A turian merc was standing in the doorway, still in the motion of opening the door. I swept his legs out from under him with my leg and jammed the pistol at the back of his head. I stuck my foot onto his back and twisted his arm, pinning him against the ground. "You're going to give me answers and you're going to do it fast. Where is this place?"

The turian grumbled something unintelligible. I twisted his arm a few more degrees and he yelled in pain. "We're in Syracuse."

"What the hell is the Blue Suns doing here?"

"Our boss, Riordan, set up here to take what we could from the Alliance bases—"

"So you were taking equipment and weapons that the Alliance is using to save people?"

The turian's head suddenly exploded in a burst of blue blood, spraying my armor. I stumbled back a bit, and looked for the sources.

I whirled around. The Ex-Costa Rican soldier was holding a new looking sniper rifle. "James. Having fun?"

"You could have shot me!"

"I could have. But don't worry, I'm a great shot."

I sighed. Emilia looked curiously at my rifle. "New gun?"

I looked at the assault rifle. "Mattock. I couldn't find ours though. You?"

Emilia shook her head. "I couldn't either. Let's just go, I think they know we're already—"

"Here." And the sound of a clip entering a gun.

I turned around, bringing my Mattock up. _Two turians in blue tech armor armed with M-300 heavy shotguns, and one human in blue tech armor with a Vindicator assault rifle. Two Blue Suns Commanders and a Centurion. Not good odds at close range. _"So you got out," he stated, sighing. He looked at one of the turians. "Next time, you're interrogating them."

The turian nodded. "I'm guessing you're not going to go quietly?"

"No," I said, diving to behind a column. I threw the grenade and Emilia shot it, exploding it mid-throw. The turians, unhindered, fired through the fire, barely missing Emilia and me. I activated my omni-shield. "Emilia! Get out of range! I'll hold them here while you set up!"

"You sure? Think you'll last that long?"

"I'm a captain in the Alliance for a reason! Just don't take too long!"

Emilia ran back and quickly disappeared in the smoke. A stream of water hit me in the face, and I realized there were sprinklers on the ceiling. _Sprinklers. People haven't used traditional sprinklers in a long time. This factory is really old. _I fired a concussive shot through the water and something heavy hit the shield. I pushed back; it was then I realized that one of the Commanders was on the other side. I looked up and saw the barrel of his shotgun. I ducked, and pushed him back with the shield. Something flashed overhead and the turian stumbled back, shields pulsating bright blue. I smelled burnt hair and felt my head. The bullet had singed the top of my head. "Damn it, Emilia!" I shouted into my omni-tool, throwing my weight against the turian again. "That's the second time today."

"_Got to keep you on your toes. I'd watch out, though. The second turian's coming in, and I don't think I can take him from here._" I looked ahead and saw the Commander approaching with another shotgun. I looked at the turian in front of me through my shield. _This might actually work. _

I lifted my shield and kicked his legs out from under him, and he was down. I hoisted him up onto my shield and pushed forward, with one omni-shield and one body-shield. Two loud cracks, and the body on my shield was a mess of blue blood and armor. _I guess it's safe to say that the Blue Suns don't care about friendly fire. Figures. _I grabbed my Mattock and fired at the second turian, shield in one hand and rifle in the other. The shots barely registered on his tech armor, and he inserted another clip into the Claymore. Another sniper shot and the gun was knocked out of his hand. I deactivated my shield, my omni-blade already out and coming towards the merc. He stepped back and hit wall. The blade cut through his shields and armor, and he slumped forward. "Emilia!" I yelled into the omni-tool, activating my shield again. "This sniper shots are really infrequent. I'd like them to happen more!"

"_But then you wouldn't have any to kill._"

"Damn it, Emilia! Just—"

Something exploded in front of me, past my shield, and I hit the ground. The centurion was standing in front of me, holding a metal shield and battle rifle. Another shot from Emilia and his shields flickered. He threw something down the hallway and suddenly the room was full of smoke. "If only you had just stayed in there," the Centurion growled, aiming the rifle at me. "Then you would have died more peacefully."

"Is there really a difference?"

I jumped, not backward but forward, tackling his legs and dragging both of us down. Through the pouring water, I saw something glint on his waist. I grabbed the knife and jammed it on his shoulder. Screaming, he used his uninjured arm and held my neck, squeezing. Black spots danced around my vision and I could barely move. Then, blood splattered on my face and he fell on me, almost blotting out my blocked vision.

"James," I heard someone faintly say. "Captain? Anytime now. Building full of mercs on full alert. Kind of in a hurry."

I wiped the blood and water from my eyes. Emilia was standing above me, firing at something out of sight. I groggily stood up, ignoring the blood running down my face. _I really hope that's not mine. _"A lot of mercs want to kill us right now," shouted Emilia, throwing me my gun. "But if you're okay with that, let me know."

_She really knows when to throw in the sarcasm_. I fired down the hallway, though I was unsure of what I was really firing at amidst the smoke and water. "I think we should go where the mercs are!" I shouted over the gunfire.

"Are you sure? That doesn't seem like the best plan at the moment!"

"It's the only one I have! That is, unless you have one."

"Not really!"

"Then we're off with the mercs!" I ran forward, pausing to grab the Claymore shotgun from the dead commander. _Could come in handy. _I rounded a corner in the hallway, and blew one merc back ten feet with the shotgun. _Already has. _I looked ahead to the door at the end of the hallway. Two mercs ran out of the door, and began firing at us.

Ten feet.

A sniper shot rang from behind me, and one of the mercs' shields faded away. I fired one concussive shot, knocking the merc against the wall. The second one loaded his missile launcher.

Five feet.

He fired a missile, the shot streaming past me as I rolled underneath it.

In range.

I fired the Claymore, ripping through his shields. Another crack from behind and the merc hit the ground. I reached for the door, but it was locked. "Emilia! Mind hacking this door?"

"Sure, no problem!" she shouted back, and accessed the lock on the door. "As long as there's no inherent danger, I'm fine with it!"

"As long as we both agree!" I unloaded everything I had in my Mattock, putting down two more mercs and knocking a third's shields off. I flung my grenade down the hallway and two more mercs bit the dust. I ducked behind an overturned table as bullets ricocheted all around me. "Are you done yet?"

"This would be a lot easier if I wasn't dodging fire at the same time! Keep them back!"

I popped my last clip into the Mattock. I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes. I opened them, and everything seemed to move in slow motion. I squared the sights on one merc. Two shots, no shields. One headshot, and the merc hit the ground. Two more headshots, and another merc's down. I saw a Blue Suns heavy approaching behind the merc lines. Four headshots, three for the shields, one for the head. The rest of my clip put two more down. Something grabbed my shoulder and shook me out of my reverie. "Come on! The door's open!"

I picked up the missile launcher from the merc behind me and ran through the door. _This is a really big garage. _

Rows of skycars were parked in the room, forming several lines. A Mantis gunship was parked on the last line. "Do you know how to fly a gunship?" I asked Emilia, running down the rows of skycars.

"I wish."

"Then I guess we can't take that one, then." I threw my last grenade at it, rolling next to the gunship. The explosion impacted its shields and flipped the entire vehicle onto the skycar next to it. I opened the door of one of the skycars and gestured at Emilia. "Do you want to drive?"

"Probably better than you," she grunted, sliding into the driver's seat. I could hear the mercs yelling at the door. I got into the back, noting the thermal clips and grenade lying on the seat. _It's almost like they were preparing for something. Well, there's always the imminent threat of the Reapers to keep you on your toes. _The skycar lifted into the air, and we were flying out of the factory. "Smooth sailing, huh?" I said, loading my Mattock.

"Please don't try to jinx it."

I looked back and saw the virtual fleet of armored skycars float up from the factory. "Then you're really going to hate this."

"Your fault."

We were ahead, but not by much. The other skycars were near ten feet of ours, flying in a loose formation. I popped open the side window and fired two missiles in their general direction. Something exploded, and I swore I could feel something land in the skycar. "I don't think I have enough ammunition for all of them," I yelled back at Emilia over the wind.

"Then you're going to have to make do with what you have!"

I stuck my head out the window and was almost hit by another skycar, which had accelerated ahead of us. I fired two missiles at it, and the burning car fell out of the sky. A missile shot past me and collided with a burned building, leaving a trail of dull orange smoke. _Oh, we are in Manhattan. _I could see the ruined twin towers as we flew by. _Do we really have a chance against the Reapers? _Another missile barely skimmed the top of our skycar, glancing off its shields and spiraling towards another building. _Oh yeah, we're in a car chase. _I fired all the missiles I had out the window, hearing the satisfying explosions of several skycars behind us. Several more to go.

Our skycar veered hard left and began to shake violently. "What's going on?" I shouted at Emilia.

"They're firing missiles!"

As if on cue, missile upon missile passed through my field of vision outside the skycar, some too close for comfort. One missile hit another skycar, and the vehicle disappeared in a plume of orange and black smoke. "James? There's been a complication. Before you see it, I have to tell you that it's not my fault."

"What are you talking about?" I yelled back, still trying to hit the mercs with my Mattock.

"That."

I looked ahead and saw it. _That is definitely not good. _A skyscraper was collapsing, an avalanche of metal, rocks, and ash freefalling to the ground. I could hear the rubble bouncing off the skycar's kinetic barriers. "Oh, shit! Emilia, can you fly through this?"

"I'm going to have to!"

I fired the Mattock through the chaos behind us. The mercs were still firing their missiles, but the falling rubble was destroying them as soon as they left the barrel. One skycar was speared by a steel column and went down. A falling rock smashed a front windshield and the skycar crashed into another skycar. A few rounds from my Mattock and the skycars vanished from sight. "James, next to us!"

The skycar jerked violently, almost throwing me off the skycar. Two skycars were quickly approaching the opposite sides of our skycar. I fired a few rounds from my Mattock, and then the rifle clicked. _I really hate that sound_. "Damn it! Emilia, toss me your rifle!"

"Kind of busy!"

I grabbed the rifle next to her. _Helix sniper rifle. Made by Joganmund Technology. High accuracy rate and damage rate. But jams easily. Not my weapon of choice, but I have to make do. _And then everything seemed to slow down. The merc were firing in slow motion. The building was sluggishly falling apart. I quickly put the sights on the merc to the right, and fired. The merc's shields collapsed and he was down. I whirled around and took the other merc before he even managed to fire a shot. Three more rounds into the front windshield, and the skycar was spiraling away.

Suddenly, everything was a blur. I could see pieces of metal and rock falling into our skycar, and everything was flashing red. It felt like the entire skycar was being torn apart by a giant. Everything was rolling, twisting, falling. And then, everything stopped. _I think that was a landing. _"James! Not again. Get up! We just landed on some building. We have to go, now!"

She grabbed her rifle from under the seat. _Huh. I don't remember putting that sniper rifle under the seat. _Emilia stood at the broken window, firing at something out of sight. I stood up and fell back down on my ass. It felt as though my stomach was on fire. _I really doubt it's my stomach, though. Probably my ribs. Have to remind myself not to get into these situations. _I picked up my Mattock, and then remembered it was out of ammo. I took my pistol out and popped the clip, jamming it into my Mattock. "There you go," I murmured to myself. "Sixteen shots. This is going to be tight."

I stumbled out of the skycar, and instantly took a burst of gunfire that took out my weakened shields. I fired at anything blue, and then realized I was almost out of ammo. I looked around. A rooftop door, surrounded by Blue Suns, a ventilation pipe, with a merc firing from behind it, and…the roof itself. "Emilia!" I shouted.

"Yeah?"

"Are you afraid of heights?"

She didn't waste anytime figuring out what I was thinking. "Are you _shitting _me? There's no way we're jumping off the roof!"

"Got any other ideas?"

"…Damn it! I hate it when you do that. Fine, when?"

"Now!" I opened the door to the skycar, and Emilia was running out. A few more shots and my shields were out. I swear a round barely missed my head. And then we ran out of roof. Just open space. Then we were falling, with nothing between us and the ground.

Shit.

**I promise you that my posts will be a lot more regular than this month. A bit of a cliffhanger, right? (funny soundtrack) We'll see what happens next! Please review, I'd accept any new ideas!**


	3. Chapter 3: This is My Town

Chapter 3: This is My Town

We were away from the Blue Suns. Just a couple thousand feet to go. The wind, heavy with soot and ash, pelted my face, almost blinding me. "Not one of my best ideas!" I yelled over the wind.

"This was a terrible idea!" Emilia shouted.

_I always thought my life would flash before my eyes. Guess that expression was just an expression. _I braced myself for the inevitable crash, closing my eyes. Then I snapped them wide open. _Wait, my friend David used to tell me a trick about this. "Turn a long fall into a series of short falls, and you'll be all right."_ Then it hit me. "Emilia!" I yelled over the wind. "Grab anything you can hold onto! Or even land on something!"

She got the idea. Reaching her arm, she momentarily latched onto an old antennae jutting out from a crumbling building. It held for barely a second and snapped, and she was falling again. Something hit me in the back, and I couldn't move for a second. Then I realized I wasn't moving at all. My hands were gripped onto the roof of the skycar below me. I quickly activated my magnetized boots and kept one hand on the roof as I slowly crouched down. I looked up and Emilia grabbed my hand, almost ripping me off the roof of the skycar. "Cutting a bit close, aren't you?" Emilia yelled, staggering onto the roof.

One of the merc stuck his out the window, and stared at the hitchhikers they had picked up. I instantly reacted, kicking him in the face and knocking him off the skycar. I laid flat against the skycar and grabbed my pistol, sticking it through the window. I didn't know what I hit, but the opposite window shattered and I heard someone else fall out. Suddenly, the vehicle lurched forward and began dipping down. "You shot the pilot?" Emilia yelled at me. "You idiot!"

"I'll admit, it's not one of my best plans!"

The wind whipped at my face, and I could barely make out the outline of a building some hundred feet below. "We've got to move, now!"

"Where are we going to go?" Emilia shouted.

I felt a shadow pass us and then I knew where. "Take my hand!"

Emilia looked at me. "I'm not sure that's a good idea!"

"I think we can make it if we slide down that slanted building. It should slow us down enough so we won't get crushed on the ground!"

"No, I mean taking your hand isn't a good idea!"

"Damn it, just do it!"

I grabbed her hand and jumped off the skycar. Time seemed to slow down as we fell towards the side of the building. I activated my omni-blade and stabbed it straight through the wall. We slid down the side of the building, sparks flying all over us. And then I landed on my back against something hard. For a second, I didn't move, listening to the sound of the skycars fly by. "Emilia?" I shouted, and almost regretted it. It felt like someone had ran a knife down my throat.

"Somehow still here," her voice floated from the right. I looked over and she was leaning against a ventilation pipe jutting from the wall.

"I think we're safe here."

"Why did you say that?"

I looked above and saw a couple of skycars fly over, landing not ten feet from us. I grabbed my pistol, and it clicked empty. _I've been hearing that sound all the time for the past few days. _"Emilia! Throw me a clip!"

"I only have three left, James! Don't waste it!"

I caught the clip, and reached for my assault rifle, jamming the thermal clip in there. The mercs began to fan out, dozens of them moving several different directions. I ducked my head behind cover and checked my HUD. _Approximately 38 mercenaries, and we're down to three clips. We don't even have enough bullets to shoot each merc one time. Shit…I think I still have one grenade left, but it's not going to do much on the side of a building. _I looked around, and something cracked underneath my foot. There was a window right next to me. "Emilia! Let's take this inside!" She was already cloaking, sliding into the building. "Could have waited…" I muttered, and fell through the window.

The inside was a mess. Desks and chairs turned over everywhere, and trash and data pads littered the floor. There were only a few pinpricks of light coming in from the windows. I turned on the night vision on my visor, and I was set. I could hear Emilia next to me. "Think they noticed?"

Suddenly, the mercs crashed through the windows below us, and flashed their lights all over the rooms. I hid behind an office desk, trying to slow down my breathing. Something flashed across my omni-tool. I checked the message. _"Stay down. We can take them out one by one, and we might not even have to fire a single shot." _

Someone stepped next to me and grabbed his legs, pulling back and knocking him to the ground. I put my hand over his mouth and stabbed him with the omni-blade. He stopped moving.

Silence. The only lights were from the Blue Suns, and with all the clutter in the room, not much could be seen. I vaulted over another desk and slid behind a fallen pillar. I heard a thump from somewhere behind me, and I knew Emilia had taken down one of the mercs. I crouched, moving slowly through the darkness. A light shone on me and I dove towards the source, knocking the merc back. Bullets riddled the air above us as I held my hand over the Blue Suns merc's mouth. I slit his throat and moved on, this time on the ground. "Stay close," one of the mercs growled, firing a couple of shots against a desk. I looked up at the light and saw the merc, a batarian armed with blue tech armor. He was holding a shotgun, an M-300 Claymore shotgun. I reached for mine, and then realized that it had dropped somewhere along the way. _Well, if I can get his—"_

A sniper shot rang out, and the batarian's head exploded in a colorful burst of blood. I dove for the merc and grabbed his shotgun, rolling forward. The other mercs began shooting everything in the room and I tackled another merc, cutting him down easily. I butted another merc with my shotgun and carved a hole in his chest with one shot. Another sniper shot and one more merc bit the dust.

Suddenly, the walls above me crumbled and I barely managed to roll out of the way as a skycar crashed through, skidding towards me and stopping a foot away from my face. I smashed the window with the butt of my shotgun and the driver fell out, unmoving. "Emilia, get in!" I slipped into the driver's seat and drove the skycar forward, smashing through mercs and debris, and I heard someone dive into the backseat. I could see Emilia on my mirror. "Are you sure you should drive?"

"It won't be that bad," I grunted, smashing the skycar straight through a wall. The skycar shuddered and I felt something enter the vehicle. "Emilia, what was that?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

A metal hook had pierced the floor of the skycar, latching onto the metal. We were slowly losing altitude. "Something's pulling us down!" Emilia shouted.

"I already figured that out!"

"Just thought you'd like to know!"

The skycar slammed into the side of a building, shattering the windows and spraying sparks everywhere. The passenger door ripped off and spun away. Rocks and shards of hot metal flew all over the skycar, pelting me. Finally, we hit the ground, hard. My door opened and I had to see cross-eyed to stare at the gun barrel. "Get out." I immediately slid out of the seat, standing up with my hands raised behind my head. The rugged-looking human pushed me aside, making sure to keep his pistol trained on me. Three others moved in on the scene, securing the crash site. Then Emilia was out of the car too. I looked at the one near me, and noticed a strange device on his arm, with three sharp and lethal-looking hooks on the end. _That must be the thing that pulled us out of the air. Fires a harpoon, grabs the target, and reels it in. We must have been moving fast to break through that wall, and he managed to pick us out of the air like it was nothing. _

"Any Blue Suns?" he spat, motioning towards the others with his harpoon gun.

"Don't see 'em," replied one. "Must've not noticed them go down."

"Good." He motioned to me and pointed at a door covered with trash and worse. "Get in."

The door, more sophisticated than it looked, was automatic, and slid open. More humans inside, with the exception of one turian. "Grant, I thought I told you to not bring in anymore stragglers," grunted the turian.

"These guys are different," said the guy behind me. "They got guns. And they know how to use 'em."

"I'll be the judge of that," a voice boomed from my right. I craned my head over the few dozen bodies in the room. His face was covered in dried mud and blood, with battle-hardened eyes that seemed to be sizing the two of us. Instantly I could tell he was the leader of this group, not to mention that he was at least six feet tall, towering over everyone else in the room. "Let them go."

The mere sound of his voice seemed to melt the people around us, and we were released. A man to his right walked up to Emilia with a grin on his face. "This pretty thing doesn't look like she could do much."

One kick between his legs, and the man was stooped over, loosing a stream of curses. Emilia gave a right hook to his face and he was down, twitching. The big man smirked, as if unconcerned with the scene. He looked over to someone behind us. "Grant, how did you find these?"

"We were doing a routine patrol, sir, when we ran into a Blue Suns group chasing a skycar. We kicked their asses and pulled the skycar down. We found them by the old office building."

"Interesting." The big man stroked his nonexistent beard, and then seemed to have come to something, snapping his fingers. "Bruce, escort these two to the back room. I need to have a word with them."

Another man appeared behind us, motioning towards a door to the left with a pistol. I complied; there was nothing else I could do. In the room there were two chairs and a table with a map strewn across it. The man, Bruce as he was called, stared pointedly at the chairs. We sat down.

Not a moment later, the big man from before entered the room, shutting the door behind him. Bruce left the room. The man put his hands behind his back, and paced around, thinking. He turned to us and spread his arms out. "You two present a unique situation," he said, his voice loud in the confined space. "We've stopped picking up stragglers from the city ever since the Blue Suns tried to muscle their way in our territory. But you two know how to shoot. From my reports"—he revealed a data pad from behind—"you escaped from the Blue Suns from an old car assembly plant some four miles to the east and fought off an entire Blue Suns platoon with a surprising low amount of equipment and ammunition by yourselves. We managed to salvage one thermal clip from your skycar, which was broken and useless anyway."

"I assume you want to know about your weapons? We are holding them at the moment, and they will be returned to you later. Back to the topic at hand. The Blue Suns have been more aggressive lately, what with the husks and Reapers floating around I'm not surprised."

He walked over to the map, which was littered with red dots and black triangles, with one star in the middle. "This is our camp here, and all the red dots are the Blue Suns." Red was dotted all around the star, and the triangles around the red. "The triangles are the husks and the like. They keep pushing in, and so do the Blue Suns. We don't try to kill all the mercs, we just knock them back enough so they'll have the numbers to sustain themselves. It works both ways; the Blue Suns also keep out the husks, which I think is worse. The Blue Suns are losing a lot of ground, and we have resources they need. They've surrounded us, but they know that this is my town, and it's not going to be easy taking me down. The only advantage they have is numbers, and that's something we don't have a lot of. We've been short on gunmen before, and this situation isn't helping. We have a lot of weapons: explosives, aircraft, guns; this part of town used to be an Alliance base before it was overrun. We just don't have the manpower to take them."

"So, in exchange for the shelter we can provide for you here, you guys can help fend off the mercs?"

I was silent, absorbing and processing this latest information. _It's not like we have a choice in the matter. He never said it outright, but he'd kick us right back out on the street without a single thought if we didn't help. This operation he has here; he's clearly the leader, and everyone here obeys him not just because he's the smart one, it's because they're afraid of him. This seems more like a gang than anything. But it's the only choice we have right now. _"All right," I said, nodding. Emilia looked at me. "We'll do it."

His face broke into a smile, but there was something wrong with it, as if it was a mask covering something else behind it. "Excellent choice! I know you'll do great. But first you'll have to prove your skills to me before I send you to the field."

"I thought we already made it clear we could handle ourselves," Emilia shot back.

He rubbed his bald head. "It's true, you've got talent, but don't take it personally if I need to verify myself first. You won't be fighting mercs, nor my men. Think of it like target practice, with live and moving targets."

_What else it could be? _"Who?"

"Husks."

"How are we going to shoot at husks? I thought you said the Blue Suns keep them out."

"They do, but occasionally a couple slip past them. We don't kill them, we just lock them up and keep them for target practice. They're harmless when they're in a steel box."

"Have any of them broken out before?" Emilia questioned.

"No. But we do make sure to keep them in check. It also reminds my men what's out there."

The door opened behind us, and two men wielding machine guns walked in. The turian from before was behind them. "Z! What do you need?"

"I thought it was time for the test," came his flanging reply.

He looked annoyed, but he seemed to let it pass. "Whatever. Just give me a report after you're done."

We were about to walk out when I stopped. "Wait," I said, turning around. "What's your name?"

He pondered my question for a bit, and then smiled, the same smile as before. "Marco. Marco Petrov."

The door closed, and he was gone. The turian shrugged and began leading us to another room. "Why does he call you Z?" Emilia piped up. The same question had crossed my mind as well.

"Because he can't pronounce my name, and it starts with a z," the turian responded, who had obviously answered this question before.

"What's your real name then?"

He didn't respond. I looked around as we walked. Almost everyone was carrying a weapon of some sort. The entire place seemed ready to respond to an attack at any minute. Security mechs constantly patrolled the halls, usually in pairs of two. Another human was sharpening an array of knives on a table. We passed a room with a firing range inside, classic red and white circular targets sliding along a wall. "Why don't we just test in there?" I asked.

"This test evaluates your survival skills as well as your marksmanship and tactical ability on the battlefield. Those mercs won't be moving in a straight line along a wall. We're here."

I turned around and we were there, a gust of wind blowing across my face. The door led to the outside, with walls surrounding the entire area. Rocks and metal debris covered the ground, with a jumble of rocks and metal in the middle. A collection of thermal clips rested in the center. "Your objective is to hold that bunker as long as you can. This is a survival type of mission where the husks have pinned you down and you have to hold the line until we decide it's enough. Your weapons."

Z handed us our guns. I grabbed the Claymore and Mattock, and then I noticed something about the assault rifle. I checked the sights on my Mattock and noticed it looked different. A holographic sight was sitting atop the normal iron sights on my gun, and the barrel looked shorter. The clip was also longer than usual. "You modified my gun?" I questioned, not unhappy but confused.

"Same here," I heard Emilia comment.

Z shrugged. "Our armory officer decided that your guns needed a bit of tuning. Whatever he did with them is probably for the best. He also mentioned that this comes with the sights on that rifle."

With that, the turian handed me a visor. I looked at it curiously. _Kuwashii visor, by the looks of it. Huh. They gave me one of the older models. Not as well-equipped as the newer models, but it has a kill count feature and corresponds with my assault rifle. Not bad. _I fitted the visor on my head, and began calibrating it. "Hey, Captain. We don't have time for that now."

I snapped back into reality, and I noticed that everyone was gone already, save for Emilia. She inserted a clip into her sniper rifle. "I'll take point here," she explained, gesturing towards the clusters of rocks below us. "I'll have a better chance of hitting them then you in that cover. You cover the back if they try to flank us."

I looked at the landscape. _Tactically, we're in a better position to handle the husks if they swarm us. We're on higher ground, and we have cover in case they try to hit us from range. Plus, we have surplus ammunition. But they have a lot of cover to work with, and there will be a lot of them. If we get hit from all sides and if they get in close, it's going to be a lot harder to kill them all. _"James! First ones up!"

I looked to the front and I could see the husks stumbling from somewhere out of sight. The husk in front was the first to go down, head exploding in a mess of fluid and metal. Then two, three, four, and more just kept coming. I fired a couple of rounds at the mass of husks, and they dispersed among the rocks. Suddenly, everything became slower and I moved my rifle faster than I thought possible. A husk passed through a space barely a foot between rocks and I put him down with two shots to the chest. I heard something to the side and another husk was in pieces. Something bounced off my shields and I looked ahead to see some of the bigger husks moving in. Their mouths were gaping as they spat acid at us. Some of the cover around us began to sizzle. "Take them down first!" I shouted over the gunfire. "I'll take the ones that get close!"

Then the husks came in en masse. Hordes of husks seemingly sprang from nowhere, and all I could hear was Emilia's gun going off every second. I didn't let up either; any husk that got within ten feet had its head blown off. Something slammed into me, and I hit the ground. Everything was blurry, but I could vaguely make out the outline of the husk that had hit me. I knocked the husk back with the butt of my shotgun and finished it off with one shot. I turned around and I tripped backwards firing my shotgun at the husk. "Shit! Emilia, you might want to turn around!"

She fired at something behind me, and I heard a husk groan in response. "We need suppressive fire! Keep them back!" Something grabbed me from behind and I landed on my back. The husk reared back to spit acid at me.

It's head exploded into pieces, showering me in metal and acid. I looked ahead and I saw that someone behind us was mowing down the husks. I looked back and Z and a couple other men were standing at the door. He nodded, and I stood up, dusting off my pants. "That was good," the turian said. "You held off four waves of husks. Not bad for the first time."

"You just happen to have all these husks?" I questioned, motioning towards all the dead bodies.

"The husks come in from the north through a break in Blue Suns lines. They stream into the waiting area, and we trap them as they come in. It works out fine." Something flashed on his omni-tool and he keyed in a few commands. "Your rooms are ready. Enjoy the break while it lasts; we won't have too many of those in the future."

"All right," said Emilia, following him back. "But what's the record for the number of waves?"

"Fifteen," Z replied, not looking back.

"Fifteen?" I said. "What team could have held off fifteen waves?"

"It wasn't a team," the turian said. "It was one guy. You've already met Marco."

We stopped at two doors at the end of a hallway. "Captain, yours in on the right. She's on the left. Get a good rest; you've got a mission tomorrow."


	4. Chapter 4: The Enemy of My Enemy is my

**Hey, guys! Sorry about the long update; school caught up with me and I haven't been able to even write a single word for days at a time. I finally managed to get to my computer on a weekend and type up most of it, and only managed to write a couple hundred words to finish it off today. I will definitely try to get more frequent updates, thought it will be hard to juggle school and other activities with it. **

**And guys, I know my story isn't perfect, but that's what reviews are for! Please read and review! This chapter will be a lot different than the previous ones, featuring a new POV, and an old character that I decided to have a more important role in this story than I originally planned.**

**P.S. If you Story Alert Sifting Through Chaos, then you might as well as favorite me or my story. **

Chapter 4: The Enemy is of my Enemy is my _

"Damn it, where are the new ones?"

"They should be on their way here already, sir."

"Done," I said, walking in, at the same time feeling like a badass. Marco quickly diminished that thought.

"Where the hell have you been? I called you in about twenty minutes ago!"

"Busy taking our time," said Emilia, and I mentally winced.

Something glinted in Marco's eye, and disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. "We've managed to pinpoint a major munitions dump for the Blue Suns. It's about a mile behind enemy lines on our western front. I'm sending a team there to destroy that factory, and you're on the demolition squad. This will be a good test of your abilities."

"What exactly do we have to do?" I said.

"The demolition team is being dropped off right at their front door. You all will break in and destroy the factory. Simple as that."

"That's it?" Emilia demanded. "Not exactly a complex battle plan."

Marco scowled. "If you don't like it, you can leave now if you like. Most likely with the Blue Suns."

"We'll do it." I said, nodding.

Marco smirked. "You don't have a choice."

A few minutes later, we were armed and ready to go. Marco had a shuttle waiting for us outside; a military-grade armored Kodiak shuttle with a gunner seat on the roof. The shuttle ride was uneventful, to say the least. I looked around the inside of the shuttle, noting the harrowed, haunted expressions on each of the men in there. _Marco gives people shelter in return for their services, which isn't bad, but it's more of the lack of options he gives that's the problem. He doesn't seem like the type to take no for an answer, which I doubt too many people have done anyway. _I looked at Emilia, who was absentmindedly cleaning her gun. "I don't trust Marco," I whispered into her ear, leaning next to her. "Do you?"

"Hell, no," she muttered, now calibrating her rifle.

"Eventually, he'll turn on us. And we'll be ready."

"Damn straight."

The shuttle slowed to a stop, and I took my first real look at the devastation. The buildings were crumbling, some reduced to rubble and others on the verge of collapsing. Debris and metal covered the normal asphalt street and charred houses slowly smoldered, gradually flying away with the wind as ash. The leader of the demolition team, Jack, held out his hand in a fist. "The ammunitions dump is just up ahead. Find some cover; we're bringing the heavies in first."

I ducked behind an overturned car, drawing my assault rifle. I zoomed in with my custom visor and counted five guards. One of the team members ran forward into my field of vision suddenly, bringing to bear the end of a long tube. He dove onto a pile of trash, and pulled up the tube. A second one came up and shoved something inside the tube. He fired the launcher.

The huge shell exploded against the door of the factory, liquefying four of the guards with it. A crack from my left and the last guard fell onto the burning rubble. Smoke flooded the entrance of the ammunitions dump, spilling outside. Jack ran forward, firing his assault rifle into the smoke. "Let's go!" he yelled, waving us inside. "Grant and Rachet, keep hitting the factory! But don't hit any explosives; I don't want to die today! Come on, let's go!"

I charged inside behind the rest, with Emilia taking up the back. Inside, the factory was filled with black smoke, obscuring everything. Jack was at the front, firing randomly in front of himself. "Sabotage the dump anyway you can!" he shouted.

"Shit," I muttered to myself, slipping on my visor. Even with the enhanced thermal vision, I still could barely see through the hot smoke and fire. Then my audio sensors picked up something that stood out. "Delta Team 2, go loud!" _Delta Team 2? I don't think a merc squad would pick a name like that. And that voice is familiar…_ I looked ahead, squinting through the glass. The orange glow of an omni-shield penetrated the thick smoke, with five figures moving and shooting behind it. _Sword-and-Shield Formation. It's the Alliance! _

_Stryker Team 2: __**Wolf**__, Hawk, Burrow, Shell, and Bear. _

_Sabotage mission._

_Primary Objective: Plant C4 on the gas pipeline in the Blue Suns ammunition dump. _

_Secondary Objective: Eliminate any mercenary that is encountered._

_One hour before Marco's demolition team arrives._

_Mission Briefing: The Blue Suns are advancing on the eastern front towards a communications relay. Delta Team 2 is being inserted one mile behind enemy lines via stealth transport aerial vehicle to sabotage the ammunitions dump fueling the Blue Suns advance. Explosives technician codenamed Burrow has been dispatched for assistance. _

"Wolf: Hawk, move into position."

The infiltrator quickly ran to the top of the hill, settling behind an outcropping of rocks. "Hawk: In position. Calling in reconnaissance place."

"Wolf: Hostile on our right. Looks like a patrol. Just two. Take them out quietly."

Bear took two pistols from their holsters and fired simultaneously, dropping both guards. Two seconds, and not a sound. "Bear: Tangos down," said Bear, holstering his pistols.

"Wolf: Good. Shell, there's a door on our right. Hack into it."

The engineer class soldier moved in on the door, quickly opening a shunt program and unlocking the door in less than fifteen seconds. "Wolf: Stryker Team move in."

The special operations team smoothly glided into the building, securing the room as quickly as they had entered. "Wolf: There's a terminal in the corner. Shell, see if you can get into the system and give us a layout of the building. Bear, provide cover at that door. Hawk, is that plane up yet?"

"Hawk: Negative…wait. I have a visual on a convoy coming into the courtyard. Looks like they're unloading something."

"I'm in the system," said Shell, his omni-tool glowing. "What do you need?"

"A layout of this place," said Wolf, checking his gun. "We need to find that gas pipeline."

"Wait…I have something. It's in the courtyard, next to the loading bay."

Wolf could hear the close quarters combat specialist swear on the radio. "Bear, maintain radio silence unless necessary." Secretly, he agreed with Bear; the loading bay would be filled with Blue Suns, and it would be hard to plant the C4 on the pipeline with all the mercenaries in there.

"Wolf: Shell, that's all we need. Take out your omni-shield. I think we're going to need it. Burrow, have you got those explosives ready yet?"

"Burrow: I've got them all right, but you have to make sure I get there safely. General Morgan said that all I had to do was plant some explosives and set them off. He wants me to die in a firefight, the general's got to pay me extra."

"Hawk: You can sort it out with him later. We've got bigger problems."

"Bear: What's that?"

"A group of armed humans just arrived in a gunship outside the factory. They're armed with—"

The entire factory shook, throwing Delta Team 2 onto the ground. The door to the loading bay blew off its hinges, throwing a screaming merc out open doorway. The Blue Suns mercenary was covered in burns, still screaming and smoking. "…Bear: Shit," he growled, taking the silencers off his guns.

"Wolf: Our priority is the pipeline," he ordered, switching to his assault rifle. "Shell, cover us with that shield." He looked at the explosives expert. "We're going to get you there, no matter what."

Wolf entered the loading bay, spraying rounds sporadically into the dense smoke. "Delta Team 2, go loud!"

Shell moved forward, absorbing gunfire with the omni-shield in front. Delta Team 2 followed closely behind, dropping mercenaries as they went. The smoke and fire nearly blinded Wolf, who quickly sealed his helmet. "Bear: It's not just the Blue Suns that are here! There's another group!"

"Wolf: Who?"

"Bear: Can't tell. But it looks like they've got some fire support hitting the place! If we don't destroy the dump, they will!"

"Are they friendly?"

"Bear:…As far as I can tell, they're shooting at the mercs. But right now, I wouldn't trust them as far I could throw 'em!"

"Wolf: Finish the mission! We can have a chat later. Hawk, any idea who they are?"

"Hawk: I have my sights on their aircraft. Looks like a gunship, but with no markings of any kind. Can't tell what group they're a part of."

"Wolf: Damn. Team, get Burrow to the target!"

"What the hell is the Alliance doing here?" I shouted, dropping another merc.

"Don't ask me!" Emilia shouted back. "I didn't bring them!"

"Shit. We have to tell Jack!"

"Go right ahead then!"

I looked the figure ahead of me. "Jack! The Alliance is here!"

He looked back, his face almost obscured completely by the smoke. "Doesn't matter! We're taking this dump down, whether the Alliance is with us or not! Shoot them like the rest!"

I looked back to Emilia. "That would be a really bad idea."

"I say we do it," said Emilia.

I stared at her. "I'm kidding!" she shouted, waving her arms in the air.

"Sure," I said, turning my attention back to the firefight. "Let's get closer to them!"

Another mortar strike landed in the factory, barely ten feet away from our position. My shields started dropping and I immediately dove into cover, rolling behind a pile of crates. Bullets harmlessly bounced off the reinforced steel. A mercenary stumbled past them, coughing and swinging his gun around. I cracked my pistol against his head. I turned my head around the crates and my head was almost taken off as the omni-shield crashed against the side of the crate. I pushed against the shield, locked in with the soldier behind it. I grabbed the right side of the shield with one hand and twisted it, flipping the shield to the side while I tackled him, sending both of us to the floor. I reached back with my knife and rammed it at the soldier…

And I stopped, the tip of the knife an inch away from his helmet. His Alliance helmet. "Shit…" I said, putting my knife away.

The Alliance soldier pushed up suddenly, throwing me on my back. The gun barrel looked unrealistically large from behind my visor. But my knife was already out again, the tip resting on his neck. "What's the Alliance doing here?" I said.

"That's classified. Not that it'll help you."

"I'd put the gun down," said Emilia, putting her pistol to his head.

"Kill me, and I kill your friend."

"We're not the enemy," I said. _Explains why my knife's against your neck. _

The other Alliance soldiers suddenly appeared, guns raised and aimed at us. Jack and a couple of the others also appeared from behind us. "What the hell is going on?" Jack shouted.

One of the Alliance soldiers stepped forward. "Alliance business. Release him immediately."

"Like hell we will." Jack raised his gun to head level.

"Put the gun down," said the Alliance soldier.

"Give me a reason," said Jack smirking. He inserted a heat sink, popping it in with a click.

The bullet passed straight through his shields, helmet, and head, actually deflecting off of my shields after going through Jack. His gun clattered to the ground before his body collapsed. All within seconds. The remaining men looked around wildly, looking for the source of the shot. The Alliance soldiers opened fire, mowing down the distracted men quickly. I hadn't moved the entire time.

The soldier above me whipped the pistol across my helmet, smashing my visor and dropping my knife. One of them grabbed Emilia from behind, locking her arms behind her. _Guess that's it then_. I winced, waiting for the bullet to come. Silence.

"Shit. Captain James, is that you?"

I looked up, trying to see past his visor. He lifted it. "Private Kevin?" I said, not believing it. Relief flooded through my body.

"It's Captain Daniels now. I was promoted to heading a Special Forces team after we made it back to the base. I thought you were dead."

He grabbed my hand, lifting me to my feet. "I guess the husks couldn't take you down."

He nodded. "Backup arrived as soon as we were separated. Any longer and we wouldn't have been able to hold our position anymore. We were going to search for you, but the Alliance wanted us back at base ASAP."

Daniels looked at Emilia. "Who are you?"

"Ex-military," she spat, still trying to get free.

"Bear, let her go."

The close quarters combat specialist released her. Emilia rubbed her arms. "What happened?" asked Daniels, turning to me.

I looked at him. "It's a long story."

"It's a long ride back to base."

"…all right, I guess I'll start from when we were separated.

** Phew, glad that's over! Captain Daniels is Private Kevin from the first chapter, in case you didn't know or figure out. He won't be a major character, but he will be somewhat important to the storyline. In the coming chapters, though, he will be positively vital to the plot. So, see you next time! Read and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5: Leo

**Hey guys! I'm sorry that it took nearly a month to update this fanfic. I had to get used to the old schedule again. I always hated monthly updates, but I wanted this chapter to be special because of that. This time, this chapter's going to be huge, and almost all of it's going to be in a flashback! Take a look at James's back story! **

Chapter 5: Leo

"That's some story," said Daniels, shaking his head.

"It's been a long ride," I said, listening to the rain splashing against the roof of the skycar. Thunder boomed in the distance, and lightning flashed. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but that assault didn't seem like the first one you've done."

Daniels nodded. "The Blue Suns have been raiding our bases for a while. That munitions dump isn't the only place the Alliance has been targeting. We've been at it with the mercs for a long time. But who was that Marco guy you were talking about earlier? His name sounds familiar."

"Didn't remind me of anyone."

"Maybe—"

"Captain Daniels, we will be landing shortly. ETA about a minute."

"Where are we landing?" I asked, looking outside the window.

"This place looks the same as anywhere else we've been," mused Emilia, fiddling with her pistol.

The shuttle flew in to the landing pad, slowly descending towards the flashing lights. The hangar quickly enclosed the landing pad, and the drizzling rain was muted, unnoticeable in the concrete bunker. The door slid open, and I stepped out, noting at least twenty Alliance soldiers on duty in the hangar. "Gentlemen," said a voice, echoing in the vast space. "Welcome."

Two golden stars flashed across the man's chest, and it took a few seconds for me to realize that he was a general. I saluted him, and he quickly waved it down. "Forget that right now," he grunted. "I am General Ezekiel Morgan." The general gestured to the hangar.

"This is Fort Hannover. This Alliance base was built with aerial and orbital attack in mind. It's a low-lying concrete dome equipped with sonar, ladar, anti-air guns, and GARDIAN lasers. The majority of the personnel and equipment are underground. Below this base is a solid concrete foundation to prevent anything or anyone from tunneling in. It is also built on a hill, with lead deposits surrounding the entire base, effectively shielding it from any outside scanners. There are two ways out of this base: by aircraft, or through the one gate north side of the base. The walls are thirty feet of reinforced steel, with kinetic barriers to match. Do not worry; we are safe here, even if the Reapers come, we'll be ready for them."

"General Morgan, this is Captain James Clark of the 13th regiment of New York."

"Oh," said the general. "The famous Captain James Clark. I've read your file before."

"The famous James Clark?" said Emilia, smirking.

His head turned to her. "You're in the presence of a hero. Years ago, a biotic insurgency captured Atlanta. The insurgency wouldn't budge against the Alliance, but they managed to let one squad slip through enemy lines." He turned to Emilia.

"Captain James Clark lead a five-man squad through a one thousand men strong biotic insurgency and left Atlanta with fewer than five hundred left in the city. The Alliance ran them out after that, but they would have lost a lot more if it hadn't been for him. No air support, reconnaissance, or backup. Just their guts and guns, with only two casualties. Also accompanied by the budding Captain Daniels."

General Morgan turned to Emilia. "And I've been briefed on who you are. You're Emilia Guarez, ex-Costa Rican military. I understand that you will follow Alliance protocol accordingly?"

"Okay," said Emilia. I mentally clapped my hand against my forehead.

General Morgan seemed unhindered. "Very well then. Normally I would have an ensign give you a tour of the facility, but these are hardly normal times. Captain Daniels, their quarters are next to yours. Please take them to their bunks. I trust that you will all be ready tomorrow."

_It's been nearly a decade since then, and people are still talking it seems. What happened then; it stays in the past. _"So you're a hero now?" said Emilia.

"A thing of the past," I answered, opening my eyes.

"How'd you do it?"

I looked back at Daniels, who was chatting with an Alliance soldier.

"James?" Emilia said, waving her hand in front of my face. "You there?"

_"Fuck! There's no way out of here! They're all over the fucking rooftop! We'll be shot to pieces if we go out there!" _

_ "Wait, what are you doing?" _

_ "Saving your asses. Get on the skycar." _

_ "No! We're all going to get out of here!" _

_ "We're not all going to make it out alive, and you know it. It was a good run." _

_ "Leo, no—!" _

"James? James, we're leaving now."

I blinked. Sweat was visible on my palms. I wiped them on my pants. "Yeah, I'm coming."

**Marco **

"Sir, we have the report on the mission."

"So you're telling me that there are no survivors?" I demanded, slamming the data pad against the desk. It slid off, clattering against the floor. "Jack was one of my best, and Grant was certainly capable of handling a simple assault. What the hell happened?"

"Sir, we found their bodies. Well, except for two of them."

I stopped, and stared at them. "What do you mean, except two?"

"The Alliance soldier and the other one. The new guys."

The door sprang open, and Z ran in. "Marco, scouts reported an Alliance shuttle flying west of here from the munitions dump."

"I guess that's what happened to the assault."

"The Alliance soldier betrayed us!" I shouted, smashing my fist against the table.

Z looked at me quizzically. "What do you mean, sir?"

I turned to the turian. "Never mind that now. Do they know where the shuttle is headed?"

"An Alliance base named Fort Hannover."

"Hannover," I repeated, pacing back and forth. "I never knew Fort Hannover was so close."

"Fort Hannover is one of the last major Alliance bases left. It's a huge cache of weaponry and supplies. Things we need to keep the Blue Suns and husks off our backs."

"Change of plans. Gentlemen, we're going to Fort Hannover."

"But sir," protested Z. "Fort Hannover is a fortress. How do you even expect to get inside?"

I smirked. "Z, go downstairs to the garage. See if you can find any leftover shuttles."

_The walls caved in around me, throwing me on the floor. My gun wrenched from my hands and thudded against my head. Another impact, a jarring flash of white and red and I suddenly flying, hurtling through open air. I skidded against hot asphalt, my clothes smoking. Black spots danced in my vision, and I fainted. _

I opened my eyes, squinting at the harsh light. I coughed up dust and blood, struggling to my feet. A steady hand caught hold of my hand, steadying me.

"James, you okay?"

"Yeah. I get launched twenty feet from a moving vehicle every day."

"All right, men! We've got about a minute before every biotic insurgent in the city finds us, so get your asses moving to cover! Go, go, go!"

"Private Kevin, you all right?"

The private sneezed. Rubbing dust from his eyes, he slowly staggered to his feet. "Yes sir," he wheezed.

"Can you run?"

"…I think so…"

"Good," I said, loading a fresh clip into my Thunder. "Because you've got to MOVE!"

I tackled him to the ground, barely missing the biotic warp. It arced over our heads, hitting a wrecked car behind us. Suddenly, the street turned into a battleground, bullets and biotic energy flying back and forth from either side. I grabbed Private Kevin by his lapels and shoved him behind an old bus. "Stay behind cover!" I yelled to him, rolling over and flicking the safety off my gun.

Dust spilled onto the battlefield and I could barely see, spraying and praying with my assault rifle. An explosive flew overhead and landed somewhere amidst the crowd of insurgents. "Sergeant," Captain Crawley yelled from behind me. "Get the hell out of there!"

I moved to stand up, but another biotic attack flew over me, skimming the top of my helmet. I barely managed to roll out of the way before a biotic shockwave passed right by me, spinning a skycar next to me. I crawled behind it. The door simply fell apart and landed next to me; this car wasn't going to last long. Private Kevin was still at the bus; arm bleeding, but still shooting. I hefted the door with my left hand. _I still can't believe I'm doing this. _"Fuck!" I shouted, running from behind cover.

A biotic throw pushed against my shield, threatening to throw me off balance. I jumped over another biotic attack, leaping over a charred wheel. Bullets pinged off the car door and a biotic pull almost wrenched the door from my hands. _This door isn't going to last long. _I was almost to the bus. I looked to my left and threw the shield underneath myself, watching the singularity pass over me. I slid into cover next to the private. "That was some move!" he yelled over the gunfire.

"Not now, Private!" I shouted. "We're going to run back to the rest of our squad, got it?"

"I can't run through that!" A singularity exploded in a blue flash of energy, rippling the air. "I'm not fucking Commander Shepard!"

"I'd be surprised if you didn't want to! But I'll knock you out and drag you along if I have to! Now, get behind the door and stay close!"

Captain Crawley noticed us immediately and they began shooting less methodically, sweeping their guns across the entire insurgency line. We ran as far away from the bus as I could before they noticed, sending a flurry of biotic attacks in our direction. A biotic throw glanced off the car door and sent us stumbling forward. Another warp zoomed past us and splashed against a pile of rubble in front of us. I dove forward, throwing Private Kevin headfirst into the rubble. I landed face first and frantically started burying myself in the rubble. Bullets bounced off my shields and a singularity missed me and landed somewhere in the rubble, showering me with rocks and bits of metal. Finally, I turned around slowly and nestled my gun in front of me. "Private, you okay?"

A cough. "Yeah. I think I swallowed some rocks."

"Then you're doing fine. How far are we from our team's position?"

"…about ten feet to go."

I looked to the side, where Captain Crawley and the rest of the team were bunkered in a collapsed store. "Ready then?"

"Yes sir!"

"Move it!" I kicked off from the rocks, diving for the store. Bullets riddled the door/shield and biotic powers splashed against the side, throwing me in every which direction. I hit the ground and rolled with it, dropping the door. I landed behind something, and the gunfire dulled. "Get off the ground, Sergeant!" Captain Crawley yelled, ejecting another clip from his rifle.

"Those were some moves," said Leo, peppering the insurgency line. "Think you could teach them to me?"

"I think those moves are self-taught," I grunted, leaning against the building for support. "You're on your own there, Leo."

Private Kevin landed next to me, throwing up a cloud of dust. "I'm not doing that again."

"Hopefully you won't have to," I shouted, joining the rest of the squad.

"Suppressive fire! Don't let them get an inch!"

I switched my Thunder to full automatic, sweeping my gun back and forth in an arc. Something hurtled through the air from behind and exploded, throwing up a cloud of dust and smoke. "We're not going to win this one!" Captain Crawley said, ejecting the overheated clip from his gun. "Retreat!"

I unclipped two grenades from my belt, rolling them onto the street. Smoke issued from the explosives and exploded, expelling a plume of black smoke. Biotic attacks flew randomly from the smoke, one narrowly missing my helmet. My squad and I ran between buildings, over rubble mounds, around cars, anything to lose the insurgents. I stepped on a metal bar, and it gave way. All around me, the ground crumbled, quickly losing cohesion. The rest of my squad was caught as well, throwing them onto the ground. The rumbling stopped and I looked down, the wind pounding against my visor, as I was freefalling towards the ground, fifty feet below. I backpedaled in midair and began sliding down the wall with my back. The ground came up fast and I pushed off the wall, rolling with the motion until I landed on something hard. White flashed in my vision and a dull ringing sound resonated in my ears. I could vaguely hear something moving to the side, but I suddenly couldn't move. Someone stood over me, grabbing my shoulders. "Come on man. We can't stay here forever."

"Shit," I groaned, sitting up with my arm across my side. "What happened?"

"We fell off a cliff. At least we made it in one piece."

I felt the tender area around my ribs. "Mostly."

He grabbed my hand, hoisting me onto my feet. The rest of the squad were in various stages of recovery, some on their feet, some still plastered across the ground. I applied medi-gel to the wound and the burning stopped. I looked up at the buildings above us some fifty feet away. "You'd think we would notice a fifty foot drop," I commented, checking my rifle for damages.

"I hope the insurgency doesn't notice either."

An omni-tool beeped and I looked around for the sound. The omni-tool beeped again and my eyes fell on Captain Crawley's omni-tool. I squatted down and lifted his arm; there was no pulse. There was an incoming call on the omni-tool. I answered.

"Report. Stryker Team 1, report. Repeat, Stryker Team 1, report."

"This is Sergeant James Clark of Stryker Team 1, over."

"Stryker Team 1, this is General Fornan. Where is your commanding officer?"

I looked at Crawley, who was not stirring. "Dead, sir."

"…What is your position right now?"

I glanced around the area, with no signs or significant landmarks. "Unknown, sir. Maybe somewhere in the middle of the city."

"We're organizing another invasion force on the other side of the city, where the enemy line is the weakest. Sending the coordinates to you now."

I scanned the coordinates onto my omni-tool. "Received them, sir. When is the invasion?"

"In four hours. You'll want to be out of there by then, though, Sergeant."

"Why?"

"Alliance Command has decided to launch an orbital bombardment right before the invasion to soften it up for the troops. So get out of there fast, Sergeant, and make it out alive. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Command out."

The call ended. I laid Crawley's arms over his chest; it was the best I could do at the moment. I looked back to the rest of the squad: Private Kevin was fiddling with his pistol, and Leo was helping Private Jake to his feet. "Team," I said loudly. "Captain Crawley is dead."

"He gave his life to see this mission through, and we're going to finish it. Command has given us four hours to make it back to base before they blow this city to pieces from orbit. But that's not all we're going to do. We didn't come into this insurgency-infested hellhole to run away with Crawley's death being in vain. We're going to see this mission through. By the time this is over, we're all going to be getting damn medals from the Alliance. So get ready, and give them hell."

Leo nodded solemnly. "Where do we start?"

I pointed to the right. The sun was hidden behind the Alliance AA cannon, throwing a mile-long shadow on the city. "That's our target. Start running men; we'll be seeing some action soon enough."

################

"Hey, James. Ever wished you were a biotic?"

"As long as I could get past the danger of being mutated or killed at birth, then I don't see why I wouldn't want to be a biotic."

"Yeah. I heard that biotics in the Alliance get extra rations and better treatment."

"Well, according to Command, they're more valuable than the average soldier."

"How many credits do you think we're wasting right now?"

Another crate sailed over our heads, smashing against the wall behind us. I popped out of cover, emptying another clip into a biotic insurgent. I felt a crackle of energy in the air and dove to the side as a biotic singularity passed overhead. "You know James," yelled Leo, blind-firing behind cover. "I don't think I would mind being a biotic."

"I thought your father hated biotics."

"That's my uncle, and he's 127. I bet he can still remember the times before the First Contact."

I ran behind another crashed skycar, ducking behind the armored shell. "I'd like to be a biotic."

"You got the physical augmentations; you don't need biotics!"

Time slowed down as I felt the familiar rushed sensation flood my body. I rose from behind the car, firing in quick, short bursts. A biotic passed through my scope and he dropped to the ground. I swept my rifle to my right and shot another insurgent out of the corner of my eye. My hand blurred as I flung a frag grenade, throwing several biotics through the air from behind a bus. The orange slowly crept back from my eye, retreating to the outer edges, and I ducked behind cover again, inserting a new clip. Leo glanced at me, my body still shaking from my enhanced fervor. "You see? That took like five seconds!"

"If you wanted to be able to do that, then you should've gotten them!" I dropped another biotic.

"That was awesome!" My head flipped back to Kevin and the other private, who were bunkered down in an old, combustion engine car.

"Bet you couldn't do it again," Leo grunted, switching to his sniper rifle.

"What do you expect to do with that?"

A biotic ran from behind cover, sending a shockwave barreling past us. He raised his arms for another biotic attack and Leo fired, spinning him with a shot to his shoulder. Suddenly, the biotic was launched into the air, thrown by his own biotics. "You try to do that," Leo smirked, putting a clip into his rifle.

I threw a grenade at a cluster of insurgents and, faster than the eye could see, fired a concussive shot into the grenade. The explosion blew the insurgents in all directions, some flying high into the air and smashing through two-story windows. "Beat that."

Leo grinned. "We'll see about that."

The rest of the insurgency finally retreated into the building, leaving the front door firmly shut. I motioned to the squad and ran up to the door, scanning it with my omni-tool. "Private Jake, you're the tech expert here."

The private quickly accessed the lock, scanning and hacking with expert precision and speed. The door opened in less than ten seconds. "I feel like I'm the only one who can't do anything amazing here," noted Private Kevin.

"Keep shooting. Something'll come up."

We stepped inside, and immediately a hail of gunfire splashed against our shields. I reflexively drew my Thunder, getting a few shots off before my shields threatened to break. I slid behind a desk, watching bullets bounce off the metal. The ground shook momentarily and I frowned, looking over the desk. Twin-mounted cannons and two tons of heavy armor, with a voice to match. "Target locked."

"YMIR mech! Get to cover, now!"

I ran forward and dove, sliding across the floor behind a pillar as a rocket exploded against the desk, disappearing in a ball of flame. Shards of hot metal rained down above me. I held my gun against the side of the pillar and blindfired, hoping it would hit something. "Leo, M-100 now!"

"Let's do this!" Leo yelled, bring the grenade launcher to bear. He fired twice, covering the heavy mech with fire and smoke. I threw a grenade at its feet, watching the mech disappear again. I reloaded my gun.

Silence. The smoke cloud wavered, and then burst as air hissed out of the YMIR mech. The twin cannons rotated to life, spitting bullet after bullet. A sharp beeping sound and my shields were down, forcing me behind the pillar again. I could hear every step the YMIR mech took towards my position, the ground shaking in response. Leo fired the M-100 again, blasting its face with the grenade. I jumped to the side and rolled into a desk to the side of the heavy mech and peppered it with my rifle. A loud burst to my left and I realized it was Kevin's shotgun, and he was close to the mech. "Private, get your ass out of there!" I ordered, hitting the mech with continuous fire in hopes it would come to me again.

"I think we got it, sir!" Kevin said, firing his shotgun again.

The YMIR mech twisted around and set itself. "Shit!" I dove forward, tackling Private Kevin as the mech fired a missile, the force of the blast pushing us a few more feet. "You don't make any new moves unless I order you to! Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good." I looked back to the mech, worn down by the firefight but still functioning. Leo fired another grenade, knocking it back a few feet. "I'm out!" Leo shouted from across the room.

"Use your sniper rifle then!" I yelled back, sneaking behind a couple of desks. I equipped my Thunder with an extended clip. "Right, let him have it!"

The squad simultaneously opened fire, breaking down its shields and armor. The YMIR turned to me and fired another missile. I quickly ducked behind cover as the explosive sailed overhead. A sharp retort of a sniper rifle and the heavy mech's head flew off, landing at Private Kevin's feet. "Yeah!" he shouted. "That's a battle trophy!"

_Finally. Wait, he shot his head off. Shit! _The YMIR hit the ground and began glowing orange, shaking and crackling. "Everyone, hit the ground now!"

I flattened myself against the ground, setting my visor to black and shutting off my audio sensors. Even so, a bright light penetrated my opaque visor and blinded me. The sound of the explosion reverberated in my ears. I held myself on the ground, feeling the explosion ripple through the air. A few seconds later, the light in my eyes dimmed and I fixed my helmet settings to default again. The YMIR mech lay in flames, its parts scattered around the room. The room was dark, and I held onto a fallen desk for support.

"Report!" I coughed, holding my hand against my chest. Something in the room fell, then silence. "I said report!"

"Reporting," said a voice in the room weakly.

"Reporting," replied Leo's voice.

"Reporting for duty sir!" answered Private Kevin.

"Don't call me sir, private," I grumbled, putting my hand out in front of me to feel my way through. "Find your way to the stairs."

I heard something slide. My hand brushed against a metal surface briefly and it vanished. "I found the door. Follow the sound of my voice."

The door opened and I stumbled through, disoriented. A gun barrel jammed into my throat and held me in place there. The rest of my squad bounded through the door and were caught in a similar fashion. Someone pressed me against the wall with the tip of his gun. Suddenly, I couldn't move, my muscles biotically frozen. My assault rifle was wrenched from my hands with biotics and thrown across the room along with the others. My captor's face was helmeted, with an opaque visor obscuring his face. He was wearing plain black armor with no markings or design. "You are to come with us," ordered the biotic.

"Like hell we will," spat Leo.

He drew back a gloved fist and punched Leo's helmeted head, reinforced with biotics. Leo fell back against the wall, and the gun barrel followed him still. Forcing our hands behind our backs with biotics, they marched us through hallway after hallway and stairwell after stairwell. Finally, we came to a stop at a double door.

The leader—at least I thought he was—entered a few codes on his omni-tool and the doors opened, revealing an old conference room with what looked like real black leather chairs and a polished wooden table. Terminals lined the walls, manned by several people typing away furiously at the holographic interfaces. A man in a black suit was standing in the middle of it all, between two sides of a serious discussion at the table. As we walked in, they stopped talking. The man in the black suit looked at us, his eyes glowing blue. "The Alliance," he declared, holding his arms out. "has infiltrated the city."

The men at the table looked at us. "Though I am surprised, this does not matter." He pushed back his smooth black hair. "I am not surprised that the Alliance sent you, not just because they want to stop us, but also because I am used to the Alliance not caring for the welfare of their soldiers."

"What are you talking about?" I said.

He stared at me, and then turned around, facing the window. It was beginning to rain outside, darkening the sky. "Do you know how misunderstood biotics are?"

"What?"

"I did not think so. We seem alien to others, as though our abilities put us beyond the understanding of the most. The ability"—he held his hand out in front of him, generating a blue corona at his fingertips—"to do this separates us from the rest. Some see it as an affliction, something to be pitied and treated for. Others see it as an advantage, something to be utilized to their benefit. And many more still see it as an abomination and condemn us for it. In my youth, I had thought that we were like everybody else, that there was no barrier between us. I had sought to fight for the biotic population and their treatment. Now, I realize that we are not the same; we are _better_."

"We can do things nobody else in the galaxy can do. We move and lift things far away from us and rip apart objects at will. Our powers transcend the imagination of the general. Even the most renowned scientists have not yet figured out the abilities of biotics. This was a test. A test of our strength, and what we can do when we work together to achieve a goal. We took Atlanta with ease, and with only a thousand men. The Alliance has managed to put only four men into the city, and they do so with their deaths in mind. But you four will only be the first."

"The first?" I said, absorbing the information.

"The first. As you probably know, the Alliance will begin an orbital bombardment in less than three hours. The strike may as well destroy this force and render the city defenseless against their army. But that will not be the case."

The man activated a projector in the center of the table, producing a holographic image of a rectangular transmitter, with a pulsating center in the middle. "This transmitter will broadcast a signal to anything orbiting Earth, with a controllable range of course. The signal contains a coded message; almost identical to the one the Alliance will send soon, with one critical difference: this message contains the coordinates of not the city, but to a certain army in waiting outside Atlanta. We have estimated that 80% of their forces will be destroyed."

As he talked, the holograph disappeared and an image of a ship in orbit appeared. A shining light materialized in the belly of the ship and spiraled off the holograph, and an image of Atlanta appeared, with the Alliance army outside the city. The beam struck the army, sending ripples across the holographic image. A number appeared on the projector and began rising quickly. The death toll.

"Why the hell are you doing this?" Leo yelled. The man seemed unperturbed.

"To show the world the power of the biotics, and to send a message to the rest of the galaxy that we are not to be trifled with."

"If you think that this'll help the situation with biotics, you're a fucking idiot!" I shouted. "How is this going to help biotics gain support?"

"I told you we do not need support!" the man growled, for the first time losing his cool. "Biotics are superior, and once we transmit, the galaxy will know of our power, our strength. This, I can assure you. And I'm going to make sure that you will not interfere. You all will be excellent examples of the ghost of a chance the Alliance has against our might. I will not be seeing you soon."

The wall facing the street suddenly opened, sliding across the floor until the entire room was open to the air. A shuttle flew next to the room, wind blasting us. He put a foot inside the shuttle. "Good day to you gentlemen."

"This'll ruin his image of us," Leo muttered, and rolled his hands around. I noticed the biotics holding our arms together had loosened. _Yes! _I quickly drew my pistol, managing to shoot a biotic before something threw me across the room. Leo slashed at his guard with a knife and helped me up. Private Kevin and Jake also sprung into action, spraying bullets all over the room, narrowly missing the both of us. I sprinted at the leader with my knife in hand. His bodyguard stepped out in front of him. "Mr. Coulter, get behind—"

I grabbed his shoulder and vaulted over him, kicking off his back and lunging at Coulter. I froze, body held still by biotics. Mr. Coulter stood right in front of me, hand held towards me. A vein pulsed in his head. "You have a lot to learn, soldier, much to learn before you can think about facing a seasoned biotic like me. Experience that you won't be getting."

He pulled his arm back, throwing me out the opening. I lashed out with my knife and managed to catch the blade against the side of the building. Mr. Coulter stepped inside the skycar and the vehicle turned its back to me. Something grabbed my arm and hoisted me up before the back burned into the side of the building. The flaming behind of the skycar quickly disappeared in the distance. "We need to go now!" Leo shouted, tossing me my gun.

"That AA gun is still standing; we're not leaving until it goes down!"

"We've got to catch up to him!" Private Kevin yelled back. "We can't let him activate the transmitter!"

"We'll split up! One team goes down to the garage, the other goes up top to the AA gun!"

"All right!" Leo pulled out a hook from his belt. "Let's do this shit!"

I grabbed a magnetic hook from by belt and latched it onto the side of the building. Bracing myself, I jumped off the side. The belt slowed down my descent, but I was still falling at a fatal speed. I kicked off the side of the building and rappelled down the wall, taking a floor at a time. Leo zipped past me and straight down, freefalling towards the ground. I finally landed, unhooking my belt. Leo was sitting on top of a crushed soldier, unmoving. "I found my landing pad," Leo shouted, standing up. "What took you so long?"

Insurgents poured from the open garage, releasing a flurry of biotic attacks. I threw a grenade and sent several flying back. I looked overhead and immediately ducked behind cover again. "Leo!" I yelled. "We've got a gunship!"

"I know!" Leo fired a grenade at the gunship, but it strafed to the side, missing it completely. "I'm out of grenades!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" A missile flew from the gunship, nearly missing my head as it exploded against the skycar.

"I think I can disable it with my sniper!" Leo yelled back. "But you've got to distract it first! I can't hit a target the size of a credit chit if it keeps moving like that!"

"Distraction? Sure! Why the hell not?"

I ran from behind cover, peppering the gunship with gunfire. "Over here, bitch! I'm over here!"

I threw a grenade, and the gunship flew lower and dodged the grenade. It turned to me. Bullets rained down on my position, and I hit the ground. I held my Thunder over cover and blindfired, hoping I hit something. My gun was suddenly wrenched from my hands, almost breaking them. My rifle lay smoking on the ground. "Shit!" I cursed, pulling out my pistol. "Leo! Where the hell are you? Disable the bastard already!"

"Cool it, man! I'm trying!"

"Try harder!" The gunship spun around and launched another missile, this time where Leo was hiding. There was a string of curses. "Fuck!" Leo muttered through the comms. "James, I'm hit!"

"What? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I can't shoot the damn thing with one arm!"

"Shit," I muttered. "Where were you going to hit it?"

"There's a piece of wiring in a space the size of a credit chit right below the rotors. But now we can't do anything about it!"

"Try me." The world slowed down. I rose up out of cover and aimed my pistol below the rotors. I breathed deeply and squared my sights on the target. I braced myself with one foot behind me and squinted, using my helmet's targeting system help. The gunship moved as if in slow motion. The wiring was in my sights.

I fired. The shot passed through the wiring and out the other end. The helicopter whined and began spinning in circles, smoke issuing from the rotors. The gunship crashed against the side of the building, sending sparks flying everywhere. The helicopter finally dashed against the second story, grating down the wall until it landed in a burning heap in front of the garage. I rushed over to Leo. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine. Medi-gel will do until we get back to base. Let's kick some ass."

We sprinted to the garage. More insurgents poured from the inside of the building, spraying fire everywhere. I ducked behind a row of skycars. "Forget them!" Leo yelled. "Just take one and go!"

"There's too much fire!" I shouted back as Leo entered the skycar. "We can't push through all of them!"

"Then I guess we're just going have to thin out the crowd!"

I got in the skycar and I backed up, crashing into several insurgents as I did. The roof opened and Leo mounted the turret, mowing down lines of insurgency. I drove the skycar straight out of the garage, running over a couple of biotics along the way. "Daniels!" I yelled into my radio. "Is that AA cannon gone?"

"No, sir!" came back the reply. "Jake's trying to hack into the gun, we're pinned down by some crates on the rooftop! We could use some assistance, sir!"

"We won't be able to give you any assistance if that gun's still up!"

"We're trying, Sergeant!"

"We'll be there! ETA whenever we get there!"

The skycar shot up into the air, almost straight up. "Shit man!" Leo yelled from the gunner's seat. "It looks way worse over here than the driver's seat!"

"Just keep them off us! We're going to be dodging some anti-aircraft fire soon!"

"You sure know how to pick 'em!"

The skycar reached the roof, and we passed by the colossal anti-aircraft weapon. The two privates were bunkered next to the gun. "Leo, take out those insurgents!"

"Roger!"

The turret swept over the rooftop, covering half the rooftop in dust and gunfire. The AA cannon finally noticed us, swiveling in our direction. The barrel pulsated bright red and fired, painting a red line across the sky. I dropped the skycar and flew underneath the beam, slowing down next to the rest of our squad. "Done yet?" I yelled.

"It's done!" Jake yelled, climbing into the back of the skycar. "The explosion this gun's going to cause is going to light up the whole city! We gotta get out of here now!"

As Daniels was climbing in, something slammed into the side of the skycar and rocked it. "They got missiles!" Leo yelled.

"We're leaving," I grunted, jamming my foot on the accelerator.

The skycar shot forward, leaving a blue vapor trail behind it. The AA cannon turned to us again and fired, narrowly missing the skycar. More skycars entered the airspace, firing anything they had at us. A biotic warp hit the back of the skycar, pushing it forward. "Shit! We've got to lose them!" Daniels yelled, firing out the window.

"Forget that! Where's the transmitter?"

"In Bankhead!" Jake yelled back.

"I don't know where Bankhead is!"

"Give me a second!" Jake opened his omni-tool menu and keyed in a few commands. "The location should be in the skycar's navigation system now."

A holographic interface appeared on the windshield, prompting me to go west. The skycar banked left hard, throwing Daniels onto the floor. "Next time, I'm driving!" Leo shouted over the roar of the turret.

"We're here!"

The dingy area of Atlanta lay below. "How the hell are we going to find a tiny transmitter?" Leo yelled.

"That's not tiny," Jake pointed to the left.

The transmitter sat on top of a building on our left, where I could dimly see Mr. Coulter. Something flashed and suddenly the skycar jerked to the left. "What happened?" Jake yelled.

"That son of a bitch is pulling us down!" I shouted back. "Leo, mow him down!"

"I can't! This stupid thing is jammed!"

"Shit!" The skycar slammed into the building, ripping apart as it grated upwards to the rooftop. The vehicle stopped on the edge of the roof. "I'll admit it," Mr. Coulter said, nodding. "I'm impressed. But it is too late, if you'll pardon the cliché. In a few minutes, the Alliance will begin the orbital bombardment on their own troops, decimating their army."

"Fuck you!" Leo yelled, unclipping and throwing a grenade at the insurgency leader. He caught it with a flick of his hand, suspending the explosive in mid-air for a second before launching over the skycar. It exploded, flipping our skycar over twice. My door fell off, cracking on the ground. I started firing, emptying an entire clip in his direction, but he was already moving, sliding behind the transmitter. My squad gravitated behind the car, barely evading the succession of biotic attacks that followed. There were only three insurgents guarding the transmitter. A loud gunshot rang out and pierced an insurgent's helmet, blood spraying from the hole. The other two launched biotic warps in our direction; I dropped to the floor, shooting their legs from underneath them. "Stop that transmitter!" I shouted, and my team moved from behind the skycar. "Jake, start hacking your way into it! We'll see if we can break it first!"

I sprinted to the transmitter, but an invisible force blew me back a good ten feet, landing me near the edge of the building. I looked up, dazed. Leo was swinging his gun at Mr. Coulter, who was fending him off with his biotics. I reached for my pistol and took aim, putting my sights on his head. I fired twice; both times the shots bounced off. _Shit. We outnumber him four to one, but his biotics are too strong! We can't break through them. There's got to be a way. _

I looked to my right, and the skycar filled my vision. Then it hit me. I limped towards the skycar and sat down in the driver's seat, hard. The skycar started and began floating. Though severely damaged, it looked like it could still fly. My foot hit the accelerator, and the skycar rushed forward. "Leo, Jake, Jack! Get out of the way!" I yelled as the skycar picked up speed.

Leo took one look in my direction and dove backwards, barely avoiding another biotic attack. Mr. Coulter turned his head my way as well and threw a biotic attack at me. The blue ball glanced off the windshield, but the vehicle was still gaining speed. I looked straight at him, but his eyes were already staring at something far away. I crashed into him and the transmitter, jarring me and sparking an explosive retort from the engine. A deafening scream filled my ears and disoriented me even more. Suddenly, the entire front end of the car was on fire, blazing with heat. I staggered out of the skycar and slowly crawled a few more feet away from it. Mr. Coulter's last scream still rang in my head. His figure was indistinguishable amidst the flames. Strong hands gripped my own hands and hoisted me up, setting me on unsteady feet. "James? James, you all right?"

I looked up dizzily. Leo was holding my shoulders, shaking me. "James? Come on, man, wake up."

I coughed, blood splattering across the ground. "Did we win?"

He shook his head. "You got five seconds to get your head together. Mr. Coulter called in reinforcements."

My head snapped straight, all signs of drowsiness gone. I grabbed my rifle and inserted a new clip. Skycar upon skycar fell from the sky, landing on the other end of the rooftop. We took cover behind the blazing metal heap. "How the hell are we going to get off now?" Kevin yelled.

"Mr. Coulter has a pretty sweet ride, don't you think?"

The rest of the squad glanced to the left. Mr. Coulter's golden skycar lay parked on the edge of the roof. "There's too much fire!" Jake yelled over the gunfire. "We'll be shot out of the sky before we even get ten feet away! We're just going to have to stick it out until the crowd thins out!"

"That'll take too long!" I yelled, opening the back seat. "The Alliance is about to bomb the entire city! It's the only way off this rooftop!"

"We won't make it!"

"We don't have a choice!"

"Fuck! There's no way out of here, all right? They're all over the fucking rooftop! We'll be shot to pieces if we go out there!"

A loud ripping sound filled the air. Leo mounted the gun on top of a vent. The gun spun to life, ripping apart the insurgent line. He set it on auto-fire, walking up to me. Suddenly, he shoved me into the skycar. I landed on my back and almost fainted again as lights danced in my vision.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I coughed.

"Saving your asses," Leo said. "Get on the skycar."

"No! We're all going to get out of here!"

"We're not all going to make it out alive, and you know it." Leo looked at the rest of the squad. Slowly, they both began to nod. Kevin slid into the driver's seat, his expression hard. Jake turned his head towards Leo for the last time, and entered the car. Leo looked at me. "It was a good run."

"Leo, no!" I moved out of my seat to grab him. His fist crashed against my face and knocked me back into the car. I could barely see; it felt like a tunnel was closing in on my vision. Leo looked back, and then turned away. I could dimly see the sky light up, bright lights falling from the sky to the city below. The skycar shuddered and took off, but I could still feel the vibrations of the bombing. _Leo! It should've been me! _

**How was that for a flashback? I'll be sure to make the next chapter just as exciting, with a huge siege and everything! Next chapter: Marco returns, and it's just chaos! **


	6. Chapter 6: Fish in the Barrel

Chapter 6: Fish in the Barrel

A sharp kick struck my side and I hit the ground, awake. "What?" I mumbled, dazed.

"Get up," said Emilia. "You can't stay in bed forever."

"Yeah," I said, the dream still fresh in my mind. _Some things just can't stay in the past_. _Now they're in my dreams, too_. "Give me about ten minutes."

Ten minutes later, I was ready, putting on my visor as I walked. Personnel bustled around all the time, whether they were delivering weapons or making coffee. Every few feet or so, there would be an Alliance guard at the ready, armed and alert. _This is a high-security base. Everyone has a place here, no matter how insignificant. I still haven't found mine yet. _I stopped at the armory, where I knew Emilia would be. The guard on duty saluted me. "Captain Clark," he said, snapping to attention.

"You don't have to salute me," I said, waving his hand down.

"Yes, sir." He replied, opening the door for me. The armory was literally lined with guns, with shelves upon shelves of weapons. Every model or type of weapon I could think of and more was in this room. Missile launchers, handheld mortars, laser-sighted pistols, incendiary grenades, etc. Emilia was holding another rifle, examining from all angles. "Find anything you like?"

"They have everything here," she commented. The stock snapped open, adding another foot to the gun. "This is a Harpoon sniper rifle. Only two shots per clip. Luckily, the damage output is high enough so that I'll only need one shot to kill. This is Kassa Fabrications' crown jewel in their line of weapons."

She unclipped a rather large pistol from her belt. "I found this toy too. M-6 Carnifex heavy pistol. Great pistol, with a lot of punch behind every shot. You should think about getting new weapons too. They have enough to spare a few."

I rummaged through the shelves. _Vindicator battle rifle. Made by Elanus Risk Control Services. Fires in three-round bursts. High damage output, and pretty accurate for an assault rifle. Good for medium to long ranged combat. A bit less reliable up close, which is what I'll probably need a lot in the future. Thunder assault rifle. Good damage output, but poor accuracy rating. Has an average clip size. Probably only good for close ranged combat. _I look through all the shelves, sifting through the chaos of all the weapons and picking up a Predator heavy pistol at the same time. Something hard landed on my head, knocking me to the ground. Spots danced in my vision. "What was that?" I groaned, rubbing my hand. A different gun sat in my lap. I picked it up, checking its features. _Crossfire assault rifle. Made by Armax Aresenal. Originally an assault rifle designed for turians, it was contracted by the Alliance for human use. High accuracy rating, large clip, and reasonably high damage output. The recoil was meant to be taken by turians, in exchange for a bigger punch. Not exactly what I was thinking of, but it's a good rifle. _I hefted the assault rifle in my hands, testing its weight and balance. It came equipped with upgraded sights and an extended magazine. The stock folded and the barrel shortened, fitting neatly in the weapons belt on my back. I looked at the shotgun on my weapons belt, a modified M-300 Claymore shotgun. I switched it for an Executioner shotgun. "Done shopping?"

"Yeah," I said, sliding the weapon into my holster. "Where's General Morgan?"

"I don't know. He's probably—"

"Stop her!"

I turned to the sound of the voice. Drawing my pistol, I stepped out of the armory. A dark blur passed through my vision and crashed into me, sending me tumbling to the ground. I shook my head; what the hell was that? Then I opened my eyes. Black helmet and a darkened visor, with a shape that no human head should have. I kicked the figure off of me, right into the waiting arms of two Alliance soldiers. "Thanks for the help," grunted one of the soldiers, struggling to cuff the taller alien.

An Alliance officer ran to the scene. "Good, you caught her." He looked to me on the ground. "At least, not without the help of the captain here."

I stood up, running my hand over my armor. "Who's this?"

With one deft movement, the officer ripped off the helmet, exposing the turian head underneath. _Wait, that's not right. Turians usually have long fringes. This one has a really short one, and the body shape looks different…oh, she's a female turian. _"She just broke into the base through the front door. One of our guards tried to apprehend her, and she knocked him out and ran inside. It's a good thing you were here, Captain."

He turned to the guards. "Take her to one of the empty holding cells in Block B."

The soldiers nodded, hoisting the female turian and dragging her away. The officer tossed the helmet to another soldier. "Take that too. I'll deal with it later." He then turned to us.

"Sorry, Captain. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Chief Richards, the head of security here at Fort Hannover. Besides the one turian, we haven't had any security issues since Earth was attacked."

"Nothing?" Emilia said.

"The occasional husk might wander up the road, but other than that, there hasn't been a lot of action up here. The mountain hides this base from most."

Suddenly, a loud blaring sound rang through the hallway, freezing everyone in their tracks. Then, as if moving from slow motion, the room burst to life, soldiers running to their designated positions. "Chief Richards!" yelled a soldier, grabbing his chest for breath. "We have a situation on the landing pad."

"What happened?"

The soldier held up his hand, and then put it down again. "Alliance squad cars. They arrived on the landing pads, and as soon as the doors open, they start shooting."

"Who started shooting, Private?" Chief Richards demanded.

"I don't know, sir. But there's a lot of them. And they're breaking through."

The head of security nodded, and then opened his omni-tool. "All units in Level 1 move to the landing pad immediately. All units in Level 2 move to Sector A, Sector C, or Sector D; which ever is closer! All other units proceed to their designated positions. This is Chief Richards; Level 4A override!"

He looked to us. "Captain Clark, I need you and her to assist my men. We—"

"Chief Richards!" rang his omni-tool. "The intruders have breached Level 2! They're in Sector A!"

"Copy that. All units in Level 3, Sector A move to Level 2, Sector A. Private, take Captain Clark and Private Emilia to Level 2. I have to help my men."

"Let's go," yelled the soldier, taking off in one direction. We followed; I had no idea where Level 2 was. More sharp turns, and we were sprinting down a hallway when a group of Alliance soldiers backed away from a corner at the end of the hallway. "Hold them off! Hold them off! Hold then—"

The explosion threw the soldiers like ragdolls, dashing them against the walls. A man in black armor appeared in their place. "Boss, we found him," he yelled into his omni-tool. The sound of Emilia's sniper rifle rang in my ear as the bullet cut into the man's head. All in a second. "Good shot," I commented. "But what did he mean by "we found him"?"

"Hell if I know," Emilia replied, switching to her pistol. "Private, where the hell are we?"

"We're in Level 3 Sector A. We need to go up the elevator; the fight's right above us."

He ran into the elevator, motioning for us to come. I took one step towards him and he was gone in a flurry of sparks. His screaming was cut short as the elevator was crushed at the bottom of the shaft. "Elevator's out then," I said, moving to a door on the other side of the room.

"Where are you going?" Emilia yelled after me.

"Taking the stairs," I answered, opening the door and walking straight into one of the mercs. I fell back onto the ground first, whipping out my pistol and hitting him three times in his shoulder. He yelled, flailing his right arm to catch himself as his left arm dangled uselessly. I picked myself up. "Who are you guys?" I demanded, putting my elbow against his chest. "I said, who are you guys?"

"Marco," he coughed, blood leaking from his mouth. "He said take the base, but make sure we find you."

_Marco? Shit. I guess he would have never let us betray him and help kill his men. But how did he find us so quickly? _"How did you find us?"

"We tracked the skycars after you left that factory. The boss knew that this place was armed, so he took his leftover Alliance shuttles and you guys didn't have a problem with that at all when we landed."

My shields beeped furiously as they quickly depleted from the spread of bullets. I snapped my head to the left and narrowly missed his head as the shot bounced off the space next to the merc. The merc reached for his belt, arched his arm, and…

He exploded. He was literally cooking inside his armor, burning and screaming. I dropped the merc with one shot from my pistol. "We're done here," I said, letting go of the merc in front of me.

I ran up the stairs, taking three steps at a time. There was another merc on the landing; I flipped him over my shoulder by the legs and Emilia put the finishing shot into his head. I looked around: there were two doors. "I say we take the right," I said, opening the right door.

The hallway was lined with cells, each shielded with a bright blue kinetic barrier. There was a growl from my right. The turian was sitting on a bench in one of the cells. _There's that turian from earlier. This obviously isn't the way out; we should just leave while we can. But at the same time, I can't. I can't just leave her here. Then again, she could turn on us at anytime. But still…_

"What do you want?" the turian's voice shook me out of my thinking.

"I'm Captain James Clark," I said before I knew the words were out of my mouth. Emilia looked at me, raising an eyebrow."We're here to get you out."

"I'm not doing anything," she growled, narrowing her eyes. "You're with Alliance."

"In a few minutes, that won't even matter. If Marco's guys break through the Alliance, they'd probably throw away your key. Do you want to get out?"

She stared at me for several infuriating seconds. Then, she slowly nodded. "Good," I said, inwardly relieved. I keyed in a few commands onto the door console, and the barriers faded away. She stood up and brushed right past me, squatting below the door console. "Wait, what are you…" Her talons caught a hidden latch in the wall, and she pulled it, revealing a drawer full of weapons and a helmet. She put it on, the armor hissing as it connected with the helmet. She grabbed three pistols, clipping them onto her person. "Can I at least get a name?"

She glared at me, or at least I thought she did. Her helmet obscured any view of her face. "Charis."

"Okay, Charis. Unless you know the way out, you should probably follow us."

Emilia looked at me skeptically. I ignored her. Charis seemed to think about it, and then nodded. "Then follow me." I opened the door, and immediately noticed the problem.

Outside, the Alliance was quickly falling back, caught off guard by the suddenness of Marco's assault. Chief Richards had taken up arms with the rest of his men, expertly picking mercenaries with a rifle. The compound guards had barricaded the main corridor and the soldiers were bunkered down at the end, cutting down every mercenary in the two hundred feet plus hallway. Along with the mercenaries, hordes of husks were charging down the length of the hallway, firing streams of acid and slowly burning through the barricades. A group of mercs suddenly appeared from the hallway in front of us, heading towards the unsuspecting Alliance line. _Shit. Nobody's noticed them! _I raised my rifle, only getting off a few shots before a turian blur passed in front of my vision. Charis sprinted forward and vaulted over the closest merc, blasting him with bursts of submachine gun fire as she went. The next merc turned around and her foot jabbed into his unprotected throat, knocking him down. The other mercenaries whirled around, shooting in a wide arc. Charis hit the ground and slid towards them, cutting through their shields and armor. The last merc used his gun like a club, running towards the turian with gun held high above his head. She drew her legs in close and swept his legs out with one foot. She planted the gun square in his visor, shooting straight through the glass. Holstering her guns, she stood up, brushing nonexistent dust from her armor.

"Well…shit," Emilia summed up.

"That was impressive," I commented. _Impressive? That's a bit of an understatement. I don't think every turian is like her. She's just one-of-a-kind. I doubt that's taught in the military. Where did she learn to do that? _By then, Chief Richards had noticed, along with several other compound guards. "Captain?" he shouted over the firefight. "You let her out?"

"We're in a bit of a situation, sir!" I shouted. "We don't have too many options!"

Chief Richards shook his head and motioned for us to come. "We could use your help, Captain!" said the security chief. "We've set up a pretty strong barricade here, but the mercs are throwing husks at us to keep us busy while they look for other ways into the compound. There's an emergency staircase on the other side of this level, and our troops bunkered in front of the door. We're losing men, and I don't know how many husks they have to spare. They send a wave of them every few minutes. IF you have a plan, Captain, now would be the time to tell me!"

"Got anything heavy in the armory?"

"We've got a couple of missile launchers and machine guns stocked in the armory. They're being bought over right now."

"Suppressive tactics," I suggested. "Send a small team straight down the corridor and give them covering fire. Then the rest of the troops move up."

"That's suicide," concluded the security chief. "Let's try it. I'm sending a squad of three down one end of the hallway. But, Captain, I already have a plan for you.

"Yes, sir?"

Chief Richards pointed towards the elevator. "I'm sending you up the elevator."

"Wouldn't they see us coming?"

The security chief shook his head. "Not _in _the elevator. You're going _up _the elevator shaft. You and your squad will climb up the shaft and hit the mercs on the landing pad.

"What squad, sir?"

"The one you have behind you, Captain."

I managed to stop myself from looking at Charis and Emilia. _I've never exactly thought of us as a squad, much less count Charis. My last squad was separated and killed by husks. I won't let that happen to this one. _I nodded. "Good," said Chief Richards. "Get ready to go."

The security chief moved to a group of soldiers, presumably the one they were sending. Emilia looked at me. "I've been dragged across the countryside, chased by mutant zombies, almost killed by genocidal starships, fallen out of the sky, three times, and now I'm being sent up through an elevator shaft. Can't you ever pick a nicer place to stay?"

Charis shook her head. "At least you won't know when you've died."

"Thanks," said Emilia, rolling her eyes. "I really needed that."

"Captain!" shouted Chief Richards, running over to me. "Take this."

He handed me a small object and I looked closer at it. "An explosive?"

"Unless you want to just open the door?"

"Got it," I muttered, and opened the elevator. The doors slid open. The elevator shaft seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions, farther than I could see. "Use your magnetic boots," I said, and jumped onto the wall. The magnetic boots instantly connected with the wall, grounding me against the elevator shaft. Charis and Emilia were now above me. "Coming?"

Emilia jumped first, landing smoothly next to me. Charis leapt towards the wall, grounding herself around five feet ahead of me. "Let's move then."

#################

The trek to the landing pad was uneventful. So far, we hadn't been shot at. Yet. "We'll be there in a minute or two. Be ready."

Silence. "So, Charis, where are you from?" Emilia said, breaking the silence.

The turian rolled her head. "Palaven."

"Why did you come to Earth?"

"I have family on Earth."

"Where?"

"New York."

They continued the rest of the way in silence. Thankfully, we stopped at the final level. Charis released her magnetic boots, floating silently to the door. A few seconds later, the door controls glowed bright green. "When you open the door, we go in fast and hard," I instructed, drawing my gun. "Emilia, you've got the sniper rifle. Stay at range. We might need some support." She nodded, cradling her rifle.

Charis opened the door, and I leapt…and crashed straight into a merc. He cracked his against the side of an aircar and lay still. I looked up. Five mercs stood around the landing pad in various states of shock. Charis dove in next, spraying bullets all over the landing pad. A sniper round struck one merc in the chest and he back flipped, loosing a stream of blood. My omni-blade unsheathed itself as I closed in on another merc. He fired one shot into my shields and I stabbed through his armor, his body sliding off my omni-blade. "James," Emilia yelled, dropping another mercenary. "Where the hell is Marco?"

The chatter of machine gun fire rang behind me and Emilia dove to the side as the gunfire burst through her shields. Something exploded next to me, throwing me against an aircar. Charis blasted away at something from behind cover on the other side of the aircar. I peered over the aircar.

Marco, in full battle armor, stood atop an aircar, holding a body shield in one hand and machine gun in the other. A long tube stuck out of the window of the aircar.

"Captain," announced Marco, weapon at his side. He was smirking, enjoying the situation. "I'm glad you could make it."

I switched to my sniper rifle. I adjusted the sights on my rifle, but I knew I couldn't take the shot unless I looked around the corner. _Which I can't do. If this was a video game, Charis and Emilia would distract him long enough for me to take the shot. _I glanced at Emilia, who was holding her injured arm, and Charis, who was hiding in the cover adjacent to me. _Something tells me that's not going to work. _"What are you doing here, Marco?" I yelled from behind the aircar.

"Vengeance," he uttered, his eyes flashing. "Five of my men died because of you. Because you betrayed them at the factory. I intend to correct that."

"By fighting against the people who are dying to protect this planet?" I shouted.

"The destruction of the Alliance doesn't bother me. Not one bit. The Alliance takes people off the streets, forcing them into their army. My brother died because of the Alliance. And all we got in return was his ashes. No. Justice."

Icicles dripped off the last two words. Marco faced me now, staring straight at my position. "I despise injustice. I truly hate it with all my being. The fact that you could walk away after leaving five of my men dead behind you is incomprehensible to me. An eye for an eye, Captain. A life for a life. Five of my men died because of you, and you will pay each of them back."

A gunshot crackled across the clearing and Marco staggered back as his shields absorbed the sniper round. I rose up and took another shot, dropping his shields. His machine gun spat heavy rounds at me, forcing me behind the aircar again. The merc in the aircar fired another missile at Emilia. She leapt backwards, sliding behind an aircar as molten metal rained down on her. I inserted a new clip, but Charis was already in motion.

The turian sprinted towards Marco, both hands wielding submachine weapons and both spraying him with fire. The heavy merc fired another missile, this time at Charis. She slid underneath the explosive and rolled to the side as Marco blasted at her position. Charis unloaded everything in her clips, depleting Marco's barriers. He raised his shield just as the turian leapt towards him, knife in one hand and pistol in the other. She landed on top of the shield, pushing him back as she struggled to aim her pistol. Another missile shot towards me and I jumped forward, rolling behind an aircar. The tube retreated inside the window. Emilia's rifle cracked again and smashed the window to pieces. I switched to my assault rifle and aimed it at Marco.

Charis pushed back against the shield, firing wild shots over her head. I ran towards Marco and was almost immediately thrown back as he flung Charis off, crashing into me. Then my omni-shield was on, barely blocking Marco's fire as his gun was up and blazing. Another sniper round bounced off his shield, and I dashed forward with my own shield, slamming against Marco's shield. Marco grunted and pushed back, slowly overpowering me. "You're going to die here, Captain," growled Marco, and shoved even harder, almost knocking me off my feet. "Justice will be served."

I felt a pressure on my back and managed to look up in time as Charis jumped high over my head, blasting Marco with bullets. He raised his shield to deflect her shots and I drew my pistol, raising it to his head. Marco glanced towards the pistol between his head, and his eyes flickered. The anger and frustration slowly slid from his eyes, leaving nothing.

I fired, the bullet drilling straight through his skull. Marco fell back, as if in slow motion. His shield dropped from his hands and his body thudded against the ground. I looked at the body before me. _You want justice, but the galaxy doesn't work that way. You take what you can, and leave it at that. Your brother may have died, but that doesn't justify killing hundreds. All that's left is to keep moving forward, and leave behind what you can't change. I learned that with Leo, but Marco didn't learn a thing. _I turned around, and Emilia was limping towards me. "Bastard got me in the leg," she grimaced, holding her left arm. Charis was leaning against an aircar, surveying the wreckage. "I don't think medi-gel will hold it for long. Where the hell is Chief Richards?"

"While we were having fun up here," I said dryly. "Chief Richards and everyone else were fighting a war down there."

"Shit. Think they'll need us?"

"That won't be necessary."

I looked behind Emilia. Chief Richards was holding his hand with his other. "I was shot in the hand," explained the chief. "So he's dead, Captain?"

I nodded. "How many did we lose?"

Chief Richards shook his head grimly. "We lost too many in that fight, Captain. We don't have enough to sustain this base anymore. After this, we're on the move."

"On the move? To where?"

"There's another Alliance military base one hundred klicks north of Fort Hannover. We're taking a military convoy up there to sustain the war effort. Not that it'll do much."

"Sir?" I questioned.

Chief Richards chuckled, closing his eyes as he laughs. His expression became serious. "We don't have the manpower, or the firepower, to take on the Reapers. What we need is Commander Shepard. As far as I can tell, she's the only hope we have left of saving Earth."

"You really think so, Chief?"

Chief Richards gestured to the ruined base. "One small invasion force did this. If the Reapers came, we wouldn't stand a chance. If we don't all united and work together to fight the Reapers, we're going to lose."

I stood for a moment, processing his words. _Well, I guess I have a new objective. Protect Earth until Shepard arrives. _

_No matter the cost. _


	7. Chapter 7: Bunker 08

**The Abyss Looks Back**

**Bunker 08**

A stone pillar fell from its foundations, barely missing us as it tumbled off the building and onto the ground below. The truck continued ahead, flanked by several other aircars. Chief Richards looked grimly on the devastated landscape. "How long will it take to reach the next city?" he asked.

"Not too long, sir."

I glanced at Chief Richards. He looked grim, though _grim_ was beginning to be more of an understatement. They had only just discovered that General Morgan was dead before the husks had attacked again, pushing the already strained troops to the limit. They had loaded all the available supplies and hastily evacuated the crumbling military base, leaving it for the husks. _And now we're just wandering the United North American States until we run into somebody else. I thought we were fighting a war against the Reapers, but it looks like the war's already over. We're just the stragglers looking to join the queue. _

I glanced to my left. Emilia was working on her pistol, glancing at it through the bright orange screen of her omni-tool; she was calibrating it. Not that it was the first time. _With all of this going on, I'm surprised I haven't found something to occupy myself. Then again, I am examining the entire crew and thinking to myself. I guess I have to start somewhere._

Charis had her eyes closed, but I doubted that she was asleep. Her talons never lifted from the pistol on her hip. She had red facial markings and wore jet black armor. A faded blue marking of some kind was smeared across her neck. Not exactly a lot of detail to work from. _All I know about her was that she has family in New York._ _I don't remember seeing that many turians in New York anyway. There was that one turian that broke into a bank and tried to run off with millions of credits, but I don't think he's related to her in any way._

I glanced ahead at Private Samson. The young soldier kept twitching, and was constantly in motion, whether he was tapping his foot or rapping his fingers against the hand rest. He was probably in his early twenties, and had just come from boot camp to Fort Hannover when the Reapers attacked. Inexperienced, young, and eager to show his superiors what he could do. _I knew people like that. Still do. It's time like this when you feel as if you've moved onto another generation. The people around you constantly change and move, and you're sitting in the back, observing them all. Probably a good thing. Something has to keep the galaxy running. Might as well be straight from boot camp. _

My eyes strayed over to my long-time friend, Daniels. His hands were clasped together in front of his face, as if in a prayer. His eyes were closed. His squad had died in the attack on Hannover. He was slowly regaining his composure, though he was quiet most of the time. He had been through a lot these past few weeks. We all had.

I looked back at Chief Richards. "Chief," I said, breaking the silence. He glanced back at me, his eyes haunted. "Where are we going exactly?"

He bit his lip. "We recently received orders from the Alliance for a general retreat to Rome. The city has been converted into a shelter for the civilians. It's one of the few places that's been untouched by the Reapers."

"If everybody's going there," said Daniels. "How long will it take until the Reapers notice them?"

More silence. Something moved in the corner of my vision and I looked up. Private Samson was beating a tattoo into the floor of the car with his boot, drumming a steady beat against the metal surface. Before I could say anything, Chief Richards spoke first. "Private. Whatever the hell you're doing, stop it _now_."

The tapping stopped. Private Samson ducked his head slightly lower, chastised. Chief Richards just sighed, looking out the window. "We're here."

A loud voice rang over the speakers. "Scanners show that you are unidentified aircraft. You have ten seconds to verify before termination."

"Charming," Emilia muttered.

Chief Richards walked to the pilot's seat. "This is the convoy from Fort Hannover. Authorization code 2249760. Requesting permission to land."

"…permission granted. Dock at landing pad 16. Look for the flashing lights."

On cue, the window was suddenly filled with a bright light, blinding me for a moment. The spotlight penetrated the darkness and flashed like a beacon. The light flickered on and off, drawing the convoy towards it. For a brief second, I could see an enormous figure in the distance that was temporarily illuminated. Then the lights stopped flashing and I noticed the aircar had stopped. The door opened, and I stepped out.

The square-landing pad had four red lights placed on the edges of the surface. A soldier, flanked by two mechs, was there to greet us. He looked tired. "It's good to see another friendly face," he said. "Of course, I'm just happy to see anything that's not a husk or a giant killing machine or a zombie."

"Hello to you, too," said Chief Richards. "Where is General Price?"

"He's in a conference with the other officers in the command center. All newcomers have to report to Trafficking."

"Where's Trafficking?" I asked.

"Follow me."

The soldier seemed to melt into the shadows. We were only able to follow him because of the mechs, which had lights atop their heads that flashed green every few seconds. It also started to rain, which began as a slight drizzle and became a steady shower that thoroughly soaked the eight of us. Surprisingly, the mechs remained functional.

Through the patter of rain I could hear a dozen other set of footsteps to either sides of us. Our guide was somehow able to guide us through the night and rain without getting us lost. And past that, I could hear the sound of gunfire.

"Let's hurry," said the soldier over the rain, quickening his pace. "Curfew was past a long time ago, and if we get attacked by husks, nobody will be able to find us."

It was a comforting thought. Emilia snorted, barely audible in the constant rainfall. Charis stared into the night with probing eyes, as if judging where and how an attack could come if it did. It was probably what she was doing.

"We're here," announced our guide, stopping.

The ground beneath us shifted and we began moving down, into the ground. A light flickered on and I realized that we were in a mechanical lift, deep underground. "Where are we?" said Emilia, looking around the lift.

"Thirty meters below the surface," said the soldier. "This was originally a nuclear fallout shelter constructed in the 80s. Back when we still used nuclear weapons. The husks haven't noticed us yet."

"Who's down here?" I asked.

"The Alliance regiment here moved down here and evacuated the civilians when we realized that we couldn't hold back the husks. General Price is the one who set up the whole evacuation; he's still managing it."

"General Price? Is he the one in charge?"

"Yeah. He commandeered the Alliance regiment before Earth was attacked. He's the one that had the idea to bring all the remaining soldiers here to fight the aliens. General Price was the one who made all this possible, though. If we didn't have him, I don't know where would we be now."

The lift stopped, shuddering slightly. A light mist streamed in from above, covering the group within a few seconds. "Decontamination in progress," droned a VI from above. "Please remove all contaminated items and deposit them in the lift area. Your belongings will be returned once they have been purged."

"The VI still says that," explained the soldier, accessing the door panel. The door, which I had mistaken for the wall, began sliding open, a twenty-feet plus moving mass. "Welcome to Bunker 07."

Inside, the room stretched out for what seemed like miles. The platform ahead was connected to other like platforms with walkways. Below, more platforms and walkways, stretching endlessly on downward. Mechs and soldiers bustled around, carrying equipment and doing maintenance. I stepped off the lift, looking around. Charis stared impassively into the bunker, though I could tell she was impressed as well. The soldier turned around. "Which reminds me. I forgot to tell my name. I'm Private Nichols."

Emilia stared in amazement, taking in the vastness of the bunker. I was similarly affected, but then a thought occurred to me. "Where does everyone live?"

"Lower levels," Nichols explained, gesturing towards a set of lifts. These are just the upper levels, the original bunker. The rooms below are newer."

"That's good enough, Private."

Private Nichols wheeled around, saluting. "General Price," he said, snapping to attention.

I looked at the general. Graying hair, old-fashioned beret atop his head, and intense blue eyes. He looked over our ragtag group and then back to the private. "At ease, soldier."

Turning to us again, he looked me over. A flash of recognition passed over his eyes, and then it disappeared just as quickly as it had come. "Captain Clark," he finally said. "I've heard good things about you. The hero of Atlanta. The one man army."

"Emilia Guarez. Costa Rican soldier. Also quite famous among her people. That was good work in Nicaragua. But I do hope Bunker 08 doesn't end up the same."

Emilia's face darkened at the mention of Nicaragua. I looked at her quizzically. She shot me a look. _Later_, it said.

"Charis Tyzuris. They did a DNA profile back at Fort Hannover. You're probably most valuable individual in the entire bunker. A biotic, straight from the cabals on Palaven."

Charis growled, lowly and quietly from the back of her throat. The hard-faced general was unperturbed. I stole a look at Charis. _A biotic? Why would the turians let one of their biotics run to Earth? They're rare enough as it is_. "Quite a group you picked up from Fort Hannover, Chief Richards," Price noted.

The security chief nodded. General Price looked over us again. "Captain Richards, report to our chief of security, Chief Morris, in the security office. Private Nichols can escort you there."

"Yes, sir," said the private, motioning to Richards. The two were soon out of sight.

"All of you need to report to Captain Stevens in the barracks…except for Tyzuris."

Charis glared at him, but the general ignored it easily. "If you would follow me."

The turian seemed ready to disagree, but then relented, grudgingly following the general to another lift. One of the remaining mechs suddenly moved, turning its head to us. "This unit has been reassigned. All soldiers need to report to the barracks after this announcement. Please accompany this unit until you reach your destination."

The mech began to walk off, followed by the second. I began to walk off when Emilia grabbed my arm, halting Samson and Daniels. "We don't need to go to the barracks," she said lowly. "Not yet. Wondering what the general had planned for Charis?"

"You know, I'm beginning to see why you're ex-military."

I received a sharp jab to my arm, which was dulled by my armor. "If you're not going, then I am."

She walked off in the other direction, leaving us behind. I looked at the remaining two. "We're still going to the barracks," I said, turning in the direction of the mech.

###############

The elevator edged slowly downward, sliding down inch by inch. "This is a shitty elevator," Kevin concluded.

I nodded. "Should we just take the stairs?" said Private Samson.

"The elevators are the only way down to the barracks, except for the emergency stairs. We're just going to have to wait it out."

"Yeah. Probably the best idea."

I rolled my eyes internally. Private Samson had made sure to agree with everything I said, no matter what it was. No doubt he was trying to impress his superiors, which, in my case, wasn't going to happen. Not that I could do anything about his sudden desire to please me.

"Please disembark the lift. We are almost to the destination."

As we walked out of the lift, something moved in the corner of my vision and I glanced through the window to my right. A soldier was in the middle of a fight with another soldier in a small, improvised circle bordered by blue training mats. A ring of bystanders surrounded the fight area, yelling and passing credit chits around. One soldier, clad in red armor, lashed out with a gloved fist, which was quickly deflected by the soldier in blue. Slapping the arm away, the blue soldier smashed a gloved fist into the man's face, who stumbled backwards in a daze. The man in blue took advantage of this and landed a kick on his opponent's chest, sending him toppling over the barrier. Roaring even louder, the audience parted slightly to let the fighter fall to the ground. The man in blue took a moment to wipe his face with a rag and then tossed the rag onto his opponent's face. The bystanders dispersed, a mixture of grumbles and laughter.

"What'd you think?"

I turned around. The source of the voice towered over me, helmet tucked away in the crook of his arm. To say he was big would be an understatement. _Huge _was closer to the mark. He had a beard that covered the lower half of his face, but that was where the hair stopped, leaving the top of his head bald. "Haven't seen you around here before," he rumbled. If thunder had a voice, that was it. "Are you guys new arrivals?"

I nodded. "We just got here from Fort Hannover."

"Heard about that place," he chuckled. "Heard it was _real_ shitfest a few days ago. And you guys made it out alive. What happened over there?"

"Mercs, husks, the usual," I answered. _And partially my fault. _

"It's kind of sad that mercs and husks are the usual now," he sighed. He looked at the fight area. "You guys interested in a little sparring session?"

"I might be," said Kevin, rolling his shoulders.

"We still report to Captain Stevens," I said. "Now, not later."

"Captain Stevens?" the big man inquired, scratching his bald head. "He's probably in the residential area working with the Guard."

"What's the Guard?" blurted Private Samson.

"It's a volunteer security force that General Price formed," he explained. "They police the residential area and arrest any lawbreakers. They answer to Captain Stevens, and he other four other captains answer to General Price. The Guard has only existed for a couple of weeks, though, so they're still working out the kinks."

"Does anything ever get out of hand?" I said.

"Not really. I mean, one time someone stole a crate of rations and the Guard was called in to apprehend him. He shot one of the officers and a sniper shot the bastard's head clean off. They're authorized to shoot if necessary."

"Why does the bunker need a security force? Most of the people are Alliance soldiers."

"They're aren't as many soldiers as you might think. And being a soldier is a lot different from being a police officer. Everybody in the Guard, soldier or not, had to be retrained for the job. It's pretty demanding, from what I hear of it. The soldiers just patrol the bunker, do maintenance, and fight each other. We don't do much here. The people in the Guard are the real workers. What's your mech doing?"

The mech was walking in place against a wall. Kevin held his omni-tool to it, tapping in a few commands. "Kevin, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Trying to see if I can control the mech. Whoever wrote in this software is pretty good at watching their hardware. This thing is hard to crack."

The soldier glanced at me. I shrugged. "Where's the residential area?"

"Down the hallway on your left. There's an elevator that'll take you down there."

"Thanks," I said. "As fun as this has been, we have to go now guys. Pack it up."

Kevin sighed, powering down his omni-tool. "Guess I'll look at it later."

"Wait," said the big man. "I don't think I ever caught your name."

"What's yours?" I said, looking back.

"Shaw. John Shaw."

"James Clark."

He grinned, almost hidden by his beard. "See you around Clark."

The lift arrived. With that, we left, the lift doors closing on us. Kevin looked at me. "You thinking about something?"

"Yeah. Where's Emilia?"

The lift stopped, a jarring motion that cracked my head against the elevator wall and threw Samson to the floor. White, unbearably bright stars danced in my vision and I had to hold the railing for support. The lift was suddenly bathed in red light. I shook my head, trying to shake off the ringing in my ears. _Somehow, I think Emilia's the least of my problems now. _The speakers overhead crackled to life.

"Attention everyone! You're all in danger!"


	8. Chapter 8: A Redo

**A Whole New Story…Sort of**

**A Redo **

A whole new series. I've been thinking about this for a while, ever since I put Sifting Through Chaos on hiatus. I've decided to redo Sifting Through Chaos. I haven't been providing you guys with enough quality with the old Sifting Through Chaos, so I'm starting it again under the name, "Homefront". Hopefully this time it won't fall apart on me due to plot failure and loss of interest. With the new Mass Effect 3 information, I'm sure I can make this a much better story now. Thank you guys for reading my stories, and I hope you'll enjoy the new story even more. Read and Review!

_This was made in under 5 minutes. _


	9. Chapter 9: The Homefront is finally up!

_The Homefront _is finally up, and with the school year over it's going to have a much faster update rate.

Here's a preview:

The remains of Alpha company gravitated to the edge of the windows and openings, moving and firing as one. Coats's vision was constantly filled with bright pulses of light as their guns rattled against the horde of husks. His sniper rifle bucked and kicked as he fired as quickly as possible. Each shot must have killed three or four husks at a time, and yet the tide of husks was slowly edging towards them, moving away from the parking garage, which Coats could clearly see now. The entrance was encircled with makeshift fortifications and a massive throng of bodies just outside the defenses, guarded by a shockingly small group of soldiers. Then Coats's attention turned back to the husks.

"Keep them back from the windows," Newcastle shouted, but the any order now was ignored as Alpha company hammered away at the edge of the windows. Husks vaulted over their dead allies and clambered up the rubble on the edge of the building, growing frighteningly close to their position. Coats reached back to his belt and released every grenade he had left, throwing the husks into more chaos as the orange-red fireballs ripped and burned their bodies apart. The husks' eyes were glowing bright blue, staring straight at Coats. He narrowed his eyes. _Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes. It doesn't work if your enemies are glorified zombies and some are as tall as skyscrapers. _


End file.
